Medicines are a critical component of quality health care. In fact, most of the leading causes of death and disability in low- and middle-income countries could be prevented or treated with the appropriate use of affordable, effective medicines.

Yet, about two billion people—one third of the world’s population—lack consistent access to essential medicines. Fake and substandard medicines exacerbate the problem. When these people fall ill and seek treatment, too often they end up with small quantities, high prices, poor quality, and the wrong drug. This leads to prolonged suffering, and even death.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is a global leader on pharmaceutical management [11] and universal health coverage (UHC). 

Post updated December 19, 2014.

This post originally appeared on the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program Blog [15]. Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), SIAPS [16] works to assure the availability of quality pharmaceutical products and effective pharmaceutical services to achieve desired health outcomes.

On Friday, December 12, 2014, over 500 partners from the global health community will come together to commemorate the first Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day [17]. Although marking the day is new, support for the concept has been building for several years–-and momentum for it continues to grow [18]. Dr. Margaret Chan, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), framed it as “the single most powerful concept public health has to offer.”

This post originally appeared on the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) program blog [23].

Does antimicrobial resistance mean the end of modern medicine as we know it? Not quite yet. However, in a report [24] recently released on global surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the World Health Organization [24] (WHO) warned that "a post-antibiotic era–in which common infections and minor injuries can kill–is a very real possibility for the 21st century."

I am in Luanda, Angola right now, and what an interesting place. It is the most expensive city in the world: a can of coke costs $5, a car and driver for the day costs between $250-$300, and a basic hotel room with a view of people living in shacks below and cranes building more skyscrapers above is $380 (and it is difficult to find it for less).

Luanda feels like Africa mixed with Latin American and European energy and music. The traffic is bumper to bumper. It is not possible to have more than two meetings in a day because it takes that long to get from one area to another in the city. But it feels calm. Drivers in Luanda have figured out how to navigate the maze...slowly weaving in and out, letting a car in as they make a two lane road into three, and double parking with half the car on the sidewalk. Hardly anyone honks, it is hot and slow, and it feels like there is a sense of order to the chaos.

Angola is a country that has tremendous wealth, primarily derived from oil and other minerals. That wealth is controlled by an elite few, and there are wide disparities between the rich and the poor; 54% of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. The public health challenges in Angola are significant. The under-five mortality rate in 2010 was 161/1,000 births, and the maternal mortality rate is 610 per 100,000 live births.

Cross-posted on TB-CARE I [30].

World TB Day, March 24th, was commemorated in many countries around the world last week to acknowledge the accomplishments made in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), and to call attention to the work that still needs to be done.

Voices of TB, a unique event organized by USAID [31], featured former TB patients speaking about their personal fight against TB. Survivors of TB from Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia and Vietnam --- four TB CARE I [32]-supported countries --- and from the United States, spoke at the event on March 22 in Washington, D.C.

[36]

Namibia, with just 2.2 million people, has one of the highest AIDS prevalence rates in the world, at roughly 13.1 percent. The country’s small population is spread over a large geographic area, making the delivery of AIDS services a challenge especially in remote villages. Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a large role in the AIDS response here, but often have few staff, limited resources, and are not formally recognized by the Namibian government, which makes it harder for them to advocate for resources.