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August 02, 2016
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Innovations and Partnerships for Access to Medicines (Part 4) [2]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]
HIV & AIDS [5]
US Global Health Policy [6]
Michael Paydos/MSH} [2]Photo credit: Michael Paydos/MSH

This week, Devex and Management Sciences for Health (MSH) are discussing innovations for access to medicines [7] in low- and middle-income countries. Public-private partnerships are key to ensuring innovations help medicines affordably reach the people who need them most.

From communities to global policy: Innovations to access to medicines underway

Devex reporter Andrew Green writes [8]:

In Tanzania in 2002, MSH realized the medicines needed for basic treatment are in the government system, but not available to patients -- either because health facilities ran out of stock or were too far away.

Instead, patients turn to private dispensaries in high numbers. MSH reports that 82 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa seek health care and medicines from retail drug shops -- even though the people staffing them often have little knowledge or training.

In Tanzania, MSH decided to try to change that, conceptualizing a program in 2002 to set government standards for the accredited drug dispensing outlets, or ADDOs, and upping the knowledge of the people running them. ...

Read more [2]
August 04, 2016
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Alime's Story: Equal Access to Medicine in South Africa [10]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]
HIV & AIDS [5]
[10]Cynthia (left) cares for her grandson, Alime, orphaned to AIDS and living with HIV, in East London, South Africa.

This post is an excerpt from "Medicine Movers," written by Daphne Northrop, and videos by Emily Judem

EAST LONDON, South Africa -- Nine-month-old Alime and his grandmother Cynthia sit at a table piled with pill bottles, cardboard cartons, and syringes. There are 19 items in all. 

The squiggly Alime, who traveled that morning on his grandmother’s back to the hospital, happily munches on a cookie while the pharmacist counsels his grandmother on when he should take each of his medicines and how much to give him. It’s hard to believe such a tiny boy needs so many pills to survive.

Alime has been HIV-positive since birth. His treatment seems to be working. His weight has doubled, and as he smiles and gurgles quietly in Cynthia’s arms, he looks like a healthy toddler. He rarely takes his eyes off his grandmother, and he reaches out to touch her face as she talks.

Alime’s mother died of AIDS when he was just five months old, Cynthia says, her voice catching and grief pooling in her eyes. Now it’s up to her to care for her grandson.

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August 11, 2016
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What's the Future of Access to Medicines? (#Access2meds, Part 6) [12]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]
HIV & AIDS [5]
[12]Alime, a patient featured in MSH's Medicine Movers

by Devex's Noa Gutterman and Management Sciences for Health

This summer, Devex partnered with Management Sciences for Health (MSH) to host Access to Medicines [13] ( [14]), a conversation that has analyzed and amplified the discussion on global access to medicines.

Over the last three weeks,  [13] [14] has examined major questions including: 

Read more [12]
August 12, 2016
0 comments [15]

WE DECIDE: Young Persons with Disabilities Call for Equal Rights and a Life Free of Violence [16]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]
Women & Gender [17]
{Photo by the Spanish Cooperation (AECID)} [16]An expert and advocate for persons with disabilities attends a strategy meeting to discuss the new WE DECIDE initiative.Photo by the Spanish Cooperation (AECID)

Violence against women, including forced or coerced sex, is an epidemic that persists all over the world. But women with disabilities, often marginalized and denied their sexual and reproductive health rights, are particularly vulnerable to such abuse.

In June, UNFPA [18] launched WE DECIDE, a global initiative to promote gender equality and social inclusion of young persons with disabilities and advocate for the end of sexual violence.

The FCI Program of MSH [19] worked with UNFPA and a broad range of partners in the field of disabilities to build consensus for the framework of the four-year initiative and to develop communications materials for the initiative, including a video and an infographic [20] that conveys key messages and data on the status of persons with disabilities and gender-based violence.

Read more [16]
Source URL: https://msh.org/blog/archive/201608

Links
[1] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/02/innovations-and-partnerships-for-access-to-medicines-part-4#comments
[2] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/02/innovations-and-partnerships-for-access-to-medicines-part-4
[3] https://msh.org/users/management-sciences-for-health
[4] https://msh.org/blog-categories/health-systems-strengthening
[5] https://msh.org/blog-categories/hiv-aids
[6] https://msh.org/blog-categories/us-global-health-policy
[7] http://bit.ly/access2meds-innov
[8] http://bit.ly/devex_innov
[9] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/04/alimes-story-equal-access-to-medicine-in-south-africa#comments
[10] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/04/alimes-story-equal-access-to-medicine-in-south-africa
[11] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/11/whats-the-future-of-access-to-medicines-access2meds-part-6#comments
[12] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/11/whats-the-future-of-access-to-medicines-access2meds-part-6
[13] http://bit.ly/Access2meds
[14] https://twitter.com//search?q=%23Access2Meds
[15] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/12/we-decide-young-persons-with-disabilities-call-for-equal-rights-and-a-life-free-of#comments
[16] https://msh.org/blog/2016/08/12/we-decide-young-persons-with-disabilities-call-for-equal-rights-and-a-life-free-of
[17] https://msh.org/blog-categories/women-gender
[18] http://www.unfpa.org/news/youth-disabilities-face-staggering-loss-rights
[19] http://www.msh.org/fciprogram
[20] https://www.msh.org/resources/we-decide-initiative-for-young-persons-with-disabilities-infographic