Accès difficile au traitement pour les personnes séropositives et populations clés dans les pays à revenu intermédiaire

Cette publication traite du manque de médicaments essentiels pour les personnes séropositives dans les pays à revenu intermédiaire.

Pour en savoir plus, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous (en anglais).

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More than two billion people in middle-income countries (MICs) lack access to essential medicines. Medicines are expensive, and consume 25 to 65 percent of the total private and public spending on health, and 60 to 90 percent of household expenditure in MICs. In the public sector, there is poor availability of medicines and patients are forced to purchase medicines from the private market. The Global Burden of Diseases 2010 study shows that MICs rather than experiencing a classic ‘epidemiological transition’ in which infectious diseases dissipate and non-communicable diseases (NCD) emerge, are facing a ‘dual burden’ in which infectious diseases are still prevalent, especially HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis, while NCD rates are rising. Access to affordable medicines is therefore of central importance in ensuring universal access to health care in these countries.

Middle-income countries (MICs) are facing a crisis of containing costs for treating people living with HIV. These countries carry a high burden of HIV, and transmission of the virus is often concentrated amongst key populations: people who inject drug (PWID), men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers (SW), transgender (TG), prisoners and migrants. The highest numbers and the highest prevalence of PWID with HIV are in East and Southeast Asia (17 percent), Eastern Europe (27 percent), and Latin America (29 percent). HIV prevalence is on average 13 times higher among MSM compared to the general population. In most parts of the world, sex workers experience higher prevalence of HIV than the general population. Access to treatment can be a challenge for key populations given the structural barriers such as laws and legislation that criminalize their behavior, stigma and discrimination, and lack of general acceptance in society. But even when such barriers are overcome, medicines including ARVs may not be available (‘stocked out’), largely because of the high costs as well as poor procurement and distribution system. The high cost of medicines are often the reasons governments claimed to have prevented them from including or limiting access to treatment as part of the public health insurance or social security system. Moreover, a country’s ability to pay is not always commensurate to
willingness to pay especially when it involves key populations.

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