Monitoring of Pharmaceutical Supply in countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus 2008

Summary

Civil society and PLHIV groups are not adequately empowered to take a meaningful role in the pharmaceutical procurement process. Civil society and PLHIV activists often lack adequate information on the stages of treatment procurement process, transparency standards and the degree to which national procedures live up to them, pharmaceutical pricing and the degree to which it is appropriate given national needs, pharmaceutical quality standards and the degree to which they are upheld by procurers.
Through a training and workshop (March 5-7 2008, Kiev) regional groups were exposed to international and regional expertise in relevant issues and planned research on national pharmaceutical procurement and supply and reporting. Research is carried out in 7 countries (of the region – Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Estonia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan). The final reports will serve to call attention to specific areas for improvement and making constructive suggestions. They were presented at the national level and in major regional and international events in 2008 – EECAAC, UNGASS, WAC etc.

Partners

Collaborative partners = EHRN (Lithuania), ECUO (Ukraine), FrontAIDS (Russia), Russian Union of PLHIV (Russian), ITPCru (Russia)

What

• 30 PLHIV activists received information and on various aspects of pharmaceutical procurement and develop related monitoring and advocacy skills
• A research instrument for gathering information on national pharmaceutical procurement and supply is developed
• Information on the state of pharmaceutical procurement including planning, purchase mechanisms, pricing, quality, as well as national funding levels in the 7 countries is compiled and preliminary results are presented at EECAAC
• The Russian report listing Recommendations for improving pharmaceutical access
• Increased networking among HIV organisations, resulting in more effective and efficient utilization of resources

Contact

EATG Secretariat - Smiljka De Lussigny