Overpricing and affordability of drugs: the case of essential drugs in Mexico

Accessibility and availability of drugs has been a matter of great concern for health services all over the world, especially for less developed countries. The World Health Organization has devoted considerable time to this matter, as evidenced in several documents and policies, such as model lists...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cadernos de saúde pública 1998-07, Vol.14 (3), p.501-506
Main Authors: Molina-Salazar, R E, Rivas-Vilchis, J E
Format: Article
Language:por ; spa
Subjects:
Costs and Cost Analysis
Drugs, Essential - economics
Drugs, Generic - economics
Health Care Costs
Health Care Services Policy
Health Policy
Medications
Mexico
World Health Organization
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Accessibility and availability of drugs has been a matter of great concern for health services all over the world, especially for less developed countries. The World Health Organization has devoted considerable time to this matter, as evidenced in several documents and policies, such as model lists of essential drugs and the strategy "Health for All by the Year 2000". The WHO policy for essential drugs has been widely accepted, and the WHO List of Essential Drugs is now in the ninth revised edition. Although the essential drug policy has been well-accepted by health agencies and NGOs, the pharmaceutical industry has not proven willing to produce essential drugs at affordable prices. The purpose of this study is to examine price levels of essential drugs in Mexico. The evaluation was performed through a comparison of international and national prices for leading drugs in the respective therapeutic categories and included in the WHO model list of essential drugs. The study shows clearly that prices of essential brand-name drugs in Mexico are very high. Per capita consumption has remained stable despite a sharp decrease in the Mexican GDP since 1995. The article discusses the reasons for this and proposes measures to deal with the problem.
ISSN:0102-311X