180422 Pharmaceutical Sector of the Western Balkan Countries

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 9:15 AM

Aizhan Imasheva, MPH , Health, Nutrition and Population, Human Development Network, The World Bank, Washington, DC
There is a strong political will in the Western Balkan states to align the region's pharmaceutical legislation and practice with that of the European Union. Accordingly, recent policy changes were aimed at harmonization of policies with other European countries. Several national drug laws were updated or completely re-written in the last several years. More specifically, provisions were made for the simplification of drug registration requirements, licensing of professionals and businesses in the sector, implementation of ethics standards, price controls and reimbursement of drugs through national health insurance systems. Countries in the region have introduced various measures for cost containment, mostly through positive lists with various co-payment levels or expenditure caps for prescribing physicians. Some institutional buyers are using pooled procurement with open tenders to ensure lower prices. Nevertheless, there are still a number of challenges such as lack of enforcement of rules and standards, limited access to drugs for low income populations, inefficiencies in resource allocation and in the distribution chain, lack of control over physicians prescribing behavior and occasional conflicts between public health and industrial policy objectives. For the foreseeable future, there will be a need for further capacity building in the pharmaceutical sector, with a focus on increased oversight and higher professional standards, more efficient use of limited public resources, equity of access and rational use of medicines.

Learning Objectives:
Analyze the existing pharmaceutical sector of the Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia& Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia; highlight outstanding policy issues; recommend potential solutions to the governments of the mentioned above countries.

Keywords: Access, Public Health Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Authours are not in a position to control the content of CE, do not have a relevant personal financial relationship with a commercial entity that benefits the authors and do not bias the presentation of that content to colleagues and participants. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in the paper are entirely those of the authors, and do not represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.