Challenges to improving access to essential drugs: perspectives from across the divide

This paper examines the principal challenges to improving the accessibility to healthcare and medicines in developing countries. The analysis draws on current literature to provide an overview of the factors that have led to the disparity in healthcare access; the problems of developing nations in overcoming such impediments and the challenges faced by the providers of medicines, namely that of the pharmaceutical industry, in providing sustained equality. The paper therefore aims to provide a holistic view to the question of equitable access currently prevailing in debates on globalisation.

Keywords: globalisation, healthcare access, essential medicines, essential drugs, intellectual property, TRIPS, pharmaceutical industry, research and development, R&, D, innovation, developing countries, healthcare provision, access inequality