EPN’s partner – HAI – Africa in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a methodology to systematically measure medicine prices in different countries. In addition to prices, the methodology allows for the measurement of affordability, by relating the cost of medicines to the salary of the country's lowest paid government worker. It can, therefore, show how many days' work it would take for this and other workers in different income levels to buy the treatment they need.
The methodology has been used to conduct surveys in over 30 countries across the world, including 13 in Africa namely: Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Recommendations that came out of these surveys are currently under implementation. It is hoped that this process will be an integral part of the ongoing work of governments and their partners to increase access to essential medicines for all people, especially for the most poor and vulnerable.
More information on the surveys conducted in nine countries - Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda - and their findings are available on:
http://www.haiafrica.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=166&Itemid=126