Goal: to promote equity of access to essential drugs by ensuring that they are affordable to the country and the population

Objectives:

1. To maintain consumer prices of essential medicines available in the country at the minimum possible using all available options.

Strategies:

1. Design, establish and maintain a system for the monitoring of world market, local retail, wholesale and cost prices of essential drugs, setting of indicator prices and the regular and effective dissemination of these to both suppliers and consumers (see also 5.1 strategy 4)

2. Ensure that prices of drugs purchased for the public sector do not exceed the relevant indicator price through close monitoring of procurement at each level

3. Actively promote the concepts and practice of generic prescribing and appropriate generic substitution as a means of minimising drug costs

4. Ensure that the implications of the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO/TRIPS Agreement) are well publicised and understood by the relevant policy-makers.

5. Ensure that national patent legislation is suitably amended to enable advantage to be taken of WTO/TRIPS Agreement exemption provisions related to the importation and manufacture of patented medicines.

6. Ensure appropriate application of the (WTO/TRIPS Agreement) provisions related to the importation and manufacturing of patent medicines (eg. compulsory licences, parallel imports, allowable exceptions).