Peru suggests LAC manufacture short-stocked medicines
Peru
28 febrero 2018

On February 15th, the Minister of Health of Peru, Abel Salinas Rivas, proposed the Andean countries to start producing those medicines that have little availability in the region. The announcement was made during the summit of ministers and health officials of the six countries that make up the Andean Health Organization-Hipólito Unanue Agreement (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). In addition, the participants approved the Strategic Plan 2018-2022, which establishes the health priorities of the organism, that include an the approach to non-communicable diseases.

Salinas Rivas explained that this lack of medicines is the perfect opportunity to start manufacturing medicines in the region, at a time when governments are fighting diseases such as tuberculosis, dengue and chikungunya.

He also stressed that the availability of certain medicines is subject to the level of profitability they represent for pharmaceutical companies. “I hope that in the near future we can meet the technical requirements to produce drugs, in an effort to protect those who need it most”.

The Strategic Plan 2018-2022 was also approved at the meeting, which establishes regional guidelines on health and includes Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) as priorities. On this occasion, the ministers focused on addressing the endemic health problems of the region, such as fighting against anemia, chronic malnutrition, maternal and neonatal mortality, and non-communicable diseases.

The Minister of Health of Peru, Dr. Abel Salinas; the Minister of Integral Health of Venezuela, Dr. Maiqui Flores; the Vice Minister of Public Health of Ecuador, Dr. Carlos Duran; the Colombian Ambassador Monica Lanceta; the Head of the Office of International Relations of Bolivia, Dr. Teresa Rosso; and a public officer of the Office of International Relations of Chile, Dr. José Luis Durán participated of this meeting. All of them committed their ministries to support the correct execution of the Strategic Plan.

The next meeting of Ministers of Health will be held in Lima, Peru, in the course of 2018. The health ministers of Peru and Venezuela must agree on the date, but there are still no news in this regard.

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