Please tell our
readers about the
objective behind the
creation of Novartis
Access?
As a healthcare company,
one of our main objectives
has always been to expand
access to medicines in
lower-income countries.
If you look at WHO
figures, there are 400
million people worldwide
who don’t have access to
essential medicines. This
is something Novartis has
actively been trying to
change: getting medicines
to more people who need
them, at prices they can
afford.
The Novartis Access
portfolio was launched
in 2015 and specifically
targets noncommunicable
diseases (NCDs) in
lower- and lower-middle-
income countries. These
are diseases such as
diabetes, heart disease,
hypertension, and breast
cancer. Because of the
correlation between these
conditions and urban
lifestyles, we tend to
associate them with high-
income countries. What is
slipping under the radar
is that they are actually
a growing problem in
poorer countries. In India,
for example, they make
up more than half of the
disease burden. In the
developing world, we see
31 million deaths a year
from chronic diseases.
That’s almost three
quarters of the world
total.
What have been the
achievements of the
program so far?
In terms of what we
have achieved, one of
our success stories is
Kenya, which was the first
country to implement
Novartis Access. We are
building partnerships
with organizations on the
ground there – to educate
the population, to train
healthcare workers, to
screen for and treat NCDs.
Ten out of the fifteen
medicines in the Novartis
Access portfolio were
approved in Kenya last
year and we are hoping to
have monthly treatments
available in all 47 Kenyan
counties by the end of this
year at a very low cost to
health systems.
How do you view the
healthcare access
scenario in India?
What role will
Novartis Access play
here?
The healthcare access
scenario in India is very
challenging, leaving
millions of people without
access. There’s a shortage
of around 500,000
doctors in India. That’s
the number the country
would need to meet WHO
guidelines for doctor-
patient ratio, which
should be 1:1000. India’s
is about 1:1700. As always,
ingenuity is one India’s
great assets and the use of
technology is helping the
country to overcome this
shortfall. We are working
There’s a
shortage of
around 500,000
doctors in India.
That’s the number
the country would
need to meet
WHO guidelines
for doctor-patient
ratio, which
should be 1:1000.
India’s is about
1:1700
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