A number of barriers prevent people from accessing the medicines they need: Unaffordable costs, ineffective distribution chains, mismanagement of supply chains, difficulties in forecasting demand, policy limitations – all contribute to this problem. Included in this list, and perhaps even a symptom, is the issue of drug wastage. The World Health Organization estimates that more than half of all medicines are prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients fail to take them correctly. This contributes to wastage of scarce and essential resources.
For example, India experiences wastage of at least 50 percent of vaccines stocked by various healthcare organizations due to heat exposure. A study on Uganda’s Medical Stores found 10 million doses of antimalarials and US$550,000 worth of antiretrovirals (ARV) were expired. In the UK, drug wastage costs the National Health Service close to £150 million a year, half of which can be avoided. And, in the US, some figures point to $2 billion a year in medicines that go to waste.
Fortunately, a number of non-profit organizations, entrepreneurs and philanthropic individuals around the world are connecting the dots between widespread medicine wastage and lack of access through medicine recycling initiatives, which seek to improve access for low-income or uninsured groups. Here are 4 such initiatives:
1. The Medicine Baba (India): Omkarnath, who is also known as the “Medicine Baba” (header picture), goes door-to-door in New Delhi every day to collect unused prescription drugs from affluent homes, and donates whatever hasn’t expired to patients who need medicines they can’t afford. Every month, he distributes medicines worth more than $9,000 for free.
2. Waleed Shawky (Egypt): More than half of Egyptians lack access to the medications they need. And yet, the annual medicine wastes are estimated to be 1 billion Egyptian Pounds. Waleed’s “Medicine for All” initiative uses a community-based system to collect, sort, and re-distribute medicine from affluent households, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical companies to low-income families in Egypt. He has partnered with 30 NGOs across the country and has significantly increased medicine donations in the past eight years.
3. Dispensary of Hope (U.S): As a charitable medication distributor, Dispensary of Hope (DoH) connects surplus medications from manufacturers, distributors, and providers to clinics and pharmacies serving the poor and uninsured. DoH works with about 80 partners in 16 states, and distributed $10 million of donated medicine in 2014.
4. SIRUM (U.S.): Founded by three young Stanford graduates, SIRUM’s platform has been described as the Match.com for unused medicines. It enables safe, peer-to-peer redistribution of medicines directly from the hands of the donating individual or organization to the recipient clinic or pharmacy that has a need.
Access Our Medicines supports the philosophy behind these initiatives – everyone should have access to the medicines they need, and solutions are within reach. Add your voice to the Declaration for Affordable Medicines, which will be presented to world leaders, policy makers, the industry and the public: accessourmedicine.com
