Public-Private Roles in the Pharmaceutical Sector - Implications for Equitable Access and Rational Drug Use - Health Economics and Drugs Series, No. 005: 3. Essential state responsibilities: 3.1 Policy-making

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 des matières

	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

3.1 Policy-making

National drug policies are guides to action. They provide a framework for the evolution of the pharmaceutical sector [118]. Within the context of national health policy (stated or implicit), national drug policies promote access, rational use and quality of drugs.

National drug policies should be developed with the broad involvement of the full range of public, private for-profit and private not-for-profit organizations or individuals discussed in Section 2.2. However, the ultimate responsibility rests with the state for ensuring that a policy exists and that it is implemented.