Access to Essential Medicines

The Sustainable Development Goals acknowledge needs to improve the availability of affordable medicines for the world’s poor. Several countries have made substantial progress towards increasing access to essential medicines and treatments to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, but access to essential medicines in developing countries is not adequate and new challenges include the access to NCD medicines. Recent progress in a number of countries show that access to essential medicines can be improved through stronger partnership among governments, pharmaceutical companies and civil society, including consumers, working together to ensure universal access to essential medicines.