Public-Private Roles in the Pharmaceutical Sector - Implications for Equitable Access and Rational Drug Use - Health Economics and Drugs Series, No. 005: 6. Promoting public health needs through the private sector

Public-Private Roles in the Pharmaceutical Sector - Implications for Equitable Access and Rational Drug Use - Health Economics and Drugs Series, No. 005
(1997; 115 pages) [French] [Spanish]

Table of Contents

	Authors
	Acknowledgements
	Abbreviations and Acronyms
	Executive summary
	1. Public and private roles in the pharmaceutical sector
		1.1 Some definitions of public-private roles
		1.2 Questions on public-private roles
		1.3 The context of change
		1.4 Principles for assessing public-private roles
	2. Pharmaceutical markets: structure and performance
		2.1 Drug financing and distribution systems
		2.2 The pharmaceutical market: structures and actors
		2.3 Pharmaceutical market failure
	3. Essential state responsibilities
		3.1 Policy-making
		3.2 Drug regulation
		3.3 Professional standards
		3.4 Access to essential drugs
		3.5 Rational drug use
	4. The public-private mix in drug markets: a global picture¹
		4.1 Production
		4.2 National expenditure
		4.3 Drug distribution systems
		4.4 Household expenditures and sources of drugs
		4.5 Summary points
	5. Market mechanisms in public drug supply
		5.1 Organization of the supply system
		5.2 Desirability of using market mechanisms
		5.3 Summary points
	6. Promoting public health needs through the private sector
		6.1 Public health concerns
		6.2 Availability (geographical access)
		6.3 Making drug prices affordable
		6.4 Affordable financing for drugs
		6.5 Rational drug use
		6.6 Drug quality, safety and efficacy
		6.7 Summary points
	7. Pharmaceutical production and public-private roles
		7.1 Arguments for and against public sector pharmaceutical production
		7.2 The government's role in strengthening local production capacity
		7.3 Summary points
	8. Capacity-building and the process of change
		8.1 The nature of capacity and capacity constraints
		8.2 Approaches to enhancing capacity
		8.3 The process of change
		8.4 Summary points
	9. Managing public-private roles
		9.1 Developing a strategy
		9.2 Monitoring and evaluation
		9.3 Unanswered questions
		9.4 Conclusions
	References
	Glossary
	Back Cover

6. Promoting public health needs through the private sector

What mechanisms best promote the availability, affordability and rational use of drugs in the private sector?

In many low-income countries over half of all drugs are sold through the private pharmaceutical market. Private pharmaceutical purchases are the major source of drugs for the population. Whether this is a matter of policy or simply a matter of practice, it is important to ask what mechanisms best help promote health through these private pharmaceutical expenditures.

This section first summarizes public health concerns regarding the private pharmaceutical sector and then discusses the instruments available to governments wishing to intervene in the market. It goes on to discuss in more detail approaches to the four different types of concerns identified.