20.11.2018
Does research respond to the real health needs of the population?
What is one problem that is common to the very diverse health systems in countries as different as Spain, the United States, Germany, Chile, Brazil and Colombia? All of them are facing immense difficulties in ensuring access to medicines.
If I had to illustrate the problem of access to medicines, I would start by drawing a triangle—the three vertices representing development and production (scientists and industry), regulation (the state), and civil society. In the centre of the triangle I would place the word “access”. This simple diagram would serve to illustrate part of the complexity of this issue, starting with identifying the many actors involved. This complexity generates innumerable questions about how the current R&D model works, how access can be measured, what the principal barriers to access are, and possible solutions to the problems.
