In June 2008 a Peruvian group composed of government, civil society, and industry met to draft a work plan to address improving transparency and access to medicines in the country. Peru established an agreement with the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) International, announced in November 2008, making it one of the pilot developing countries in a global initiative focused on collaborative efforts in six key areas: drug financing; drug regulation, including orphan drugs; public sector procurement of medicines; transparency and management; rational use of medicines; and generic medicines. The effort brings together a multi-stakeholder group, the Grupo Impulsor, whose intent is to increase the level of health of economically poor people through provision of essential medicines and through transparency resulting from access to information on medicines and markets.


MeTA (La Alianza para la Transparencia en Medicamentos) is a global alliance launched in May 2008 to work to improve access to essential medicines at accessible prices in developing countries. Initial funding is being provided by the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID).


At the MeTA National Forum on November 13-14 2008 a representative of the Ministry of Health presented the suggestion, among others, that the project begin with the states of Apurimac, Ayacucho, and Huancavelica, as well as other regions where various actors, particularly regional and municipal governments and civil society, are ready to participate. This decentralisation of government opens the opportunity to bring the project to scale. A representative of the National Office of the Public Defender summarised the following three priorities for Peru:

  1. Guaranteeing access to essential medicines for the portion of the population in economic poverty and extreme economic poverty;
  2. Strengthening mechanisms of transparency to close spaces where possible acts of corruption might occur in the chain of supply of medicines; and
  3. Consolidating the use of generic medicines that prove therapeutically efficient.
Communication Strategies: 

The MeTA Peru project intends to improve equal access to medicines, medical supplies, and essential biological materials for vulnerable populations through promoting mechanisms that improve transparency and address how decisions are made about medicines. Further, it intends to improve the way the medicines are purchased and supplied, encourage innovative and responsible business practices, and increase the voice of patients and consumers. To achieve this, a work plan was finalised by the Grupo Impulsor in October of 2008 that includes the following actions:

 

 

  • Implement planning at the executive and legislative levels to result in the creation of a protected budgeting framework to finance medicines, medical supplies, and essential biological materials that cover the requirements of the systems of public health insurance and security and public sanitation interventions.
  • Strengthen the regulation of medicines in Peru through the office of Director General of Medicines, Medical Supplies, and Drugs (DIGEMID), giving them long-term oversight to compliment the Buenas Prácticas de Manufactura y Almacenamiento (BPM y BPA) [Good Practices in Manufacture and Storage/Supply] by developing a plan that includes a regulatory code: Código Unico de Medicamentos. Include human and technological resources. Develop of a system for disseminating alerts to citizens about quality failures or other problems with medicines, including diverse actions directed to address the presence of fake medicines in the country. Support DIGEMID in establishing a "Medicines Observatory", and creation of media spaces to broadcast the discoveries of the observatory
  • Establish a dedicated system for the public development of the regulation of supply of essential medicines at the national level
  • Build on the government's web-based portals that provide access to information on government spending and information on medicines purchases, including making information available in public health offices and clinics through creation of a web portal "Sistema Integrado de Suministro de Medicamentos e Insumos Médico Quirúrgicos (SISMED)". Improve the provision of electronic information on international medicine prices, and make it locally available to generate market competition.
  • Make accessible information and educational programmes related to the responsible use of medications, directed to the different actors who might play a part in the management of medicines (the chain of suppliers, administrators, pharmacists, vendors, and medication users).
  • Develop strategies to increase the availability and accessibility of generic pharmaceutical products in the national market through the implementation of popular education campaigns to promote the use of generic products; design of a plan of incentives for manufacturers, importers, and distributors of pharmaceutical products; create funding; and systematise the national use of generic medicines for significant pathologies and medical needs (HIV/AIDS; TB, malaria, contraceptives, etc).
  • Promote research and the creation of available funding for research and development of new and/or existing medicines.
Development Issues: 

Health.

Key Points: 

For the execution of these strategies, the Grupo Impulsor MeTA Perú has developed a proposal, the Plan de Trabajo MeTA Perú [Work Plan of MeTa Peru] to be implemented in the next two years. The group consists of representatives of the State (the Ministry of Health and Public Defender), of civil society (Colegio Médico del Perú and Health Action International (HAI)), and of the private sector (pharmaceutical laboratory association ALAFARPE). The Technology Secretary of the Grupo Impulsor MeTA Perú is the Consortium of Economic and Social Research (CIES).

Partner Text: 

Dirección General de Medicamentos, Insumos y Drogas (DIGEMID) - Ministerio de Salud, Defensoría del Pueblo, Asociación Nacional de Laboratorios Farmacéuticos (ALAFARPE), Colegio Médico del Perú, HAI, Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social (CIES).

Source: 

Email from Margarita Petrera to The Communication Initiative on March 17 2009; the MeTA PERU website, accessed on March 18 2009; and email from Andrew Chetley to The Communication Initiative on March 25 2009.