A Trade Barrier to Defeating AIDS

South Africa's implementation of 6MMD (six multi-month dispensing) allows stable HIV patients to collect their antiretroviral medications only twice a year instead of monthly. The program aims to reduce clinic congestion and improve patient retention and consistent medication use.

Nurse Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Treatment (Nimart) provides special training to nurses, allowing them to prescribe antiretroviral medicines to manage HIV treatment, increasing access among those who need the care. Previously, only doctors were allowed to prescribe the drugs, but since Nimrat launched all 17 area clinics now offer treatment and an average of 732 patients started treatment each month in the first year the program started.

Drug Aid Africa sources unused, unaltered drugs from people who don’t need them anymore and distributes them to people who do need them but can’t afford or access them. Drug Aid Africa provides free routine medications for conditions like sickle-cell anemia, as well as antimalarials, antibiotics and frequent visits to communities where they provide healthcare support and supplies. So far, the organization's efforts have helped more than 10,000 people.

Germany, like the U.S., has a largely private healthcare system that relies on private doctors and private insurers. Like Americans, many Germans enroll in a health plan through work, splitting the cost with their employer. But Germany strictly limits how much patients have to pay out of their own pockets for a trip to the doctor, the hospital, or the pharmacy, making medical debt practically nonexistent.

Friends of the Poor Foundation in Africa is a localized version of Friends of the Poor, a nonprofit in the U.S. that provides funds, food and medicine to those in need. Friends of the Poor provides HIV/AIDS support groups to help those living with HIV learn to overcome stigma and gain access to antiretroviral drugs.

When it comes to helping H.I.V. patients, Britain's National Health Service is able to keep prices for treatment much lower than the United States does by encouraging the use of generic drugs. The National Health Service's structure allows it to incentivize prescribing generic treatment in a way that the American system doesn't, especially as H.I.V. treatments are not being consistently replaced by something found to be more efficient.

Egypt has made significant strides in eliminating hepatitis C from the country by implementing an approach that combines both affordable drug access and an effort to get the drugs to those in need. Supported by the government, the country "debuted an online portal for those with the disease to register for treatment," followed by a nationwide screening program.

Even though millions of people around the world rely on drugs like insulin to live, the big pharmaceutical companies often seem to value profit over people, and the costs of critical medications can be prohibitive. A small group of dedicated experts is working to change that, combining their expertise in science, law, and business to manufacture small-scale, generic versions of drugs like insulin that are accessible and affordable to all that need them.

Injections and implants preventing HIV could be an important breakthrough especially for individuals who can not travel regularly to a health clinic, have trouble remembering to take a pill, or who want to secretly protect themselves.

Big pharmaceutical companies spend thousands of dollars every year persuading doctors to prescribe their products to patients. Doctors comply, often not realizing that a generic alternative exists or how much the name brand product is costing insurance companies and patients. The Capital District Physicians' Health Plan recruits big pharma drug representatives and hires them to educate doctors about the tactics used to sell them costly products and offer them the cheaper generic options instead. In the first year, these representatives saved patients 5 million dollars just by switching one drug to generic.