Executive summary
Quality is another key issue in access to essential medicines. Counterfeit as well as substandard pharmaceutical products can pose a very serious threat to health. However, resource constraints limit the capacity of regulatory authorities in developing countries to properly oversee the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines circulating in their markets. Policy recommendations
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Donor commitments to support global initiatives for the treatment and prevention of acute and chronic diseases should be truly additional to ODA
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The international community should assist developing-country Governments in increasing availability and use of medicines in the public sector and in providing these medicines at little or no cost to the poor through the public health system
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The international community, including new partners from the South, should further strengthen cooperation for supporting local production of generic medicines in developing countries
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The international community should further encourage the pharmaceutical industry to use voluntary licensing agreements and join patent pools
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Developing countries should carefully assess possible adverse impacts on access to medicines when adopting TRIPs plus provisions
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The international community should continue to support efforts to strengthen developing-country regulatory capacity to oversee the quality of medicines
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The international community should continue efforts to increase funding in research and development of new medicines, especially for neglected diseases
Access to new technologies The development impact of providing all people with access to the Internet and mobile phones is high. The access to such information and communication technologies (ICT) continues to increase worldwide, but large inequalities persist. By the end of 2011, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide reached almost 6 billion. In developing countries, mobile phone subscriptions continue to expand at a very rapid pace, growing by 20 per cent in 2010 and narrowing the gap with developed countries. By the end of 2011, 79 per cent of the population in developing countries had a mobile cellular subscription. By contrast, only one third of the people living in LDCs had access to mobile phones in 2010. Internet use has also continued to grow worldwide, but the digital divide between developed and developing countries remains large. Internet penetration in the developing countries stood at 26.3 per cent of the population in 2011 compared to 74 per cent in developed countries. Even with the rapid spread of ICT, the challenge of making the technologies easier, more accessible and more affordable continues. Although the costs of ICT services have been decreasing, they remain much higher in developing than in developed countries and are still prohibitive for the majority of people in some regions, especially Africa. Adequate competition among operators and service providers, aided by necessary regulatory measures, has proven critical in reducing prices of services and protecting consumer interests. Countries continued to make considerable
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