Merck 2014 Annual Report Download - page 35

30 MAGAZINE → Health for everyone
ACCESS TO HEALTH: A FOUR-
PILLAR STRATEGY
The Praziquantel Donation Program is
one of the many activities within the
scope of the Access to Health initiative.
Core competencies across the company
are leveraged to provide health solutions
to underserved populations and patients
in developing countries. Improving access
to health involves a complex and broad
range of tasks, e. g. researching, develop-
ing and refining health solutions, creating
efficient health systems and distribution
channels, offering products at affordable
prices, as well as educating health workers
and patients. The company's strategy
focuses on four areas, the so-called “4As”:
Availability, Affordability, Awareness, and
Accessibility. Availability includes refin-
ing health solutions that address unmet
needs and are tailored to local environ-
ments; affordability is about helping
patients who are unable to pay for the
health solutions they need; awareness
focuses on empowering people to make
informed decisions through education
and training; and accessibility aims at
strengthening supply chains in order to
deliver and reach out efficiently at the
point of care.
PUTTING PATIENTS FIRST
The Access to Medicine Foundation has
recognized the Group's strategic approach
in its Access to Medicine Index. Every two
years, the index compiled by the non-profit
international foundation assesses the ini-
tiatives by the world’s leading pharma-
ceutical companies to promote access to
medicine in developing countries. In 2014,
the company ranked sixth, moving up two
places compared with 2012 (see page 60).
“ PATIENTS ARE AT THE CORE
OF ALL OUR EFFORTS. WE
WILL DO EVERYTHING
WE CAN TO BETTER HELP
THEM WHILE WORKING
TO FURTHER LOWER THE
BARRIERS TO ACCESS.”
STEFAN OSCHMANN →
VICE CHAIRMAN OF
THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
“The repeated improvement in our ranking
proves that our diverse activities have be-
come an integral part of how we conduct
business. Patients are at the core of all our
efforts. We will do everything we can to
better help them while working to further
lower the barriers to access,” says Stefan
Oschmann. Apart from the commitment
to the fight against schistosomiasis, the
foundation praised a new business model
in India. The Suswastha pilot program is
aimed at increasing access to health care
products at an affordable price in rural
India. The company's Capacity Advance-
ment Program (CAP) seeks to improve
access to and the quality of diabetes treat-
ment in Africa and India.
ENSURING ACCESS TO SAFE
MEDICINES
The numerous projects based on the
Access to Health strategy are bearing
fruit around the world, with a clear focus
on the rural regions of developing coun-
tries. For instance, a rural pharmacy has
been developed – a pharmacy specifical-
ly designed for Africa that is being pilot-
ed in Ghana. The pharmacy is inside a
30m
2
container that can be transported
by truck to remote communities, pre-
equipped and with minimal assembly
required. “We are providing rural popu-
lations with direct and safe access to
medicines and professional advice,”
says Ronke Ampiah, Head of
the Rural
Pharmacy project. Safe provision also
means that the medicines are neither
substandard nor counterfeit. That’s be-
cause these could be lethal if, for in-
stance, patients take entirely ineffective
medications for malaria. The packaging
is largely identical; the international po-
lice organization Interpol estimates that
up to 30 % of all medicines in developing
countries are either counterfeit or sub-
standard. The Global Pharma Health Fund
(GPHF), a non-profit initiative funded
by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is
dedicated to fighting counterfeit medi-
cines. The most effective tool is a mobile,
compact laboratory that can be used to
identify counterfeit medicines quickly
and easily. Reference samples are used
to test the identity and concentration of
75 active ingredients in total, ranging
from anti-malarial drugs and antibiotics
to analgesics and antipyretics. This is
another initiative through which the
company is helping to improve access to
health in developing countries.
→ More information can be found
online in “M – The Explorer
Magazine”
www.emdgroup.com/
praziquantel