The challenge of ensuring access to medicine (ATM) is very complex. It involves factors such as development and health policy, health system infrastructure, pricing, rational use of drugs and adequate funding. It is not only drugs that are lacking in the poorest countries of the world; there is also a great need for doctors and nurses to administer them. There is no refrigerated storage or infrastructure for the transport and distribution of drugs. Furthermore, clean drinking water is often unavailable or difficult to obtain.
In order to achieve general access to medicine in developing countries, the participating stakeholders, both governmental and non-governmental, must consolidate their involvement, share their know-how and develop creative ideas together.
We are committed to providing sustainable access to high quality, safe medicines and health solutions (referred to as ‘access to medicine’) in developing countries. As we find it important to take a broad, holistic view of the topic, in our programs we refer to access to healthcare instead of access to medicine. Working at the interface of medicines, diagnostics and chemicals, we bring our core competencies to the fore in tackling access to medicine in developing countries through broad participation in global health issues.
Merck is taking steps to advance the objective of making our health solutions accessible and affordable for patients in developing countries. This goal can be achieved through a variety of activities, further defined in our charter on Access to Medicine in Developing Countries, which covers the following topics: product pricing, intellectual property, research & development for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), anti-counterfeiting as well as pharmaceutical product donations and philanthropy.
