UNAIDS HIV Drug Access Initiative: Providing Wider Access to HIV-related Drugs in Developing Countries, Pilot Phase

The Initiative creates flexible mechanisms to build linkages between private
drug providers, health systems, communities and patients, and to address
various levels of obstacles to drug access, including issues of pricing,
distribution, and drug dispensation. Through collaboration between
pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers, the Initiative seeks to
create an environment in which companies can safely provide HIV/STDrelated drugs at appropriate prices in affected countries, and health care
providers can make these drugs available to patients within optimal standards
of care.
UNAIDS acts as a facilitator of this process, marshalling the contributions of
pharmaceutical companies, donors, governments, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), community based organizations (CBOs), and
individuals living with HIV/AIDS, and helping them work towards a
coordinated response to the many complicated issues of drug access in the
developing world.
The Priorities of the Initiative
HIV prevention initiatives have been, and will continue to be, an essential
component of the global response to HIV/AIDS. Yet it is essential to
recognize that the continuing spread of HIV in developing countries is also
leading to increased demand for proper HIV care, which includes access to
HIV-related medicines together with an adequate social support and health
care infrastructure to support their rational use.
The priorities of the Drug Access Initiative are to increase developing world
access to needed drugs by developing, evaluating, and implementing
systems that:
* Facilitate appropriate pricing for drugs and diagnostics that reflect the
economic reality of the affected country, without disrupting or altering
existing Essential Drugs Programmes;
* Ensure rational -- the most effective and humane -- use of drugs;
* Provide an adequate and responsive distribution system to ensure a
continuous flow of drugs and avoid use of expired drugs;
* Provide the appropriate information and training to health workers and
communities and foster the establishment and improvement of an
adequate health information system;
* Strengthen national healthcare infrastructures to create a favourable
setting for wider access to HIV-related drugs;
* Provide a framework and serve as a catalyst for the increased activities of

the programme supporters, each of whose participation is necessary to
address the underlying obstacles to expanded HIV drug access;

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