December 2020

Read the blog on the MTaPS website

As we mark Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day this month, countries continue to battle the spread of COVID-19. The lack of effective treatments and testing capabilities at the onset of the pandemic was a stark reminder that access to safe and affordable medical products is key to achieving healthy outcomes. With more therapeutics and diagnostics becoming available, the preparedness of pharmaceutical systems to get medical products and services to people is particularly worrisome in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Chronic shortages of medicines, low quality, and high cost add to the burden of patients and health systems in LMICs, where up to 60% of health spending is on medicines, mostly from out-of-pocket payments. Poorer households spend up to 9.5% of their income on medicines at the point of care, making them vulnerable to poverty.