Ensuring Equitable Access to Medicines: MSH President and CEO Joins Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister for Panel at World Health Assembly 

Even the strongest health systems and medical supply chains might falter in the face of an unprovoked, full-scale invasion by a global military superpower. How to successfully maintain these systems and continue to reach the most vulnerable patients was the subject of a recent panel discussion hosted by Devex at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The panel was one of a series of conversations comprising the Devex CheckUp, an in-person event on the occasion of the 77^th World Health Assembly, which convened global health leaders to highlight the policy, resources, and partnerships necessary to accelerate progress on global health goals. Richard Jones, Editorial Director of Devex, moderated the conversation.  

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) President and CEO Marian W. Wentworth joined Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine for European Integration Maryina Slobodnichenko for a brief discussion about our ongoing partnership to strengthen Ukraine’s health system through USAID’s Safe, Affordable, and Effective Medicines for Ukrainians (SAFEMed) Activity and how we have adapted our efforts in light of the invasion.

Through an interpreter, Deputy Minister Slobodnichenko spoke to the effectiveness of the Affordable Medicines Program (AMP), which SAFEMed helped the government of Ukraine launch in 2017. She shared a personal note that her own father is one of more than 4.5 million patients who have been helped by the program over the last five years. She added that the AMP is helping the government continue to reach the many Ukrainian residents who have been displaced by the invasion.  

Wentworth addressed the moderator’s question about the need to adjust operations once the war began. “Back in 2019, we helped establish a supply chain program for HIV and TB medicines that used a network of local logistics providers and was all digital and under the control of the government, which lowered costs and improved service delivery. It was repurposed for vaccine delivery during COVID, and during the invasion, shifted again to move emergency medical supplies.”  

Slobodnichenko highlighted the government’s efforts to modernize its regulatory frameworks to be more in line with European standards. Wentworth confirmed that the reforms and anticorruption efforts implemented by Ukraine have made the market more transparent and contributed to an 85% reduction in out-of-pocket medication costs.  

When asked for final thoughts and calls to action that could inform similar efforts in other countries, Wentworth said that it all starts with the will of the government; innovative uses of all sectors, including the private sector; the importance of digitizing as much of the health system as possible; and trusting local experts along the way.  

Slobodnichenko closed out the panel by summing up the essence of MSH’s partnership with the Ukrainian government, “The most important thing is unity: to unite all the stakeholders and participants to create a mutually beneficial atmosphere to cooperate together and exchange experiences to help each other in such moments.”