As command in Acrobat Reader. The Adobe Acrobat web site has more help and tips on using Acrobat Reader. They enable people to live a normal life for longer and make bouts of illness more bearable. Yet, the experience of VSO health volunteers and VSO's partner organisations in developing countries is that effective treatment is often unavailable or unaffordable. VSO believes that access to treatment should be a right, not a privilege.
Some drugs are simply too expensive for patients and for public health systems.
New drugs are developed primarily for markets in richer countries and priced out of the reach of poor people in developing countries. The drug patenting system, whilst essential for stimulating and rewarding new innovations, is a key factor in maintaining high prices. Some developing countries have avoided high expenditure on medicines by producing copy versions of patented drugs. While much of the debate on fairer access to treatment and medicines in developing countries is about drug prices, some of the medicines needed by people living with HIV are not expensive. Many drugs, such as painkillers and simple antibiotics, are now very cheap.