Limited access to CVD medicines in low-income and middle-income countries: poverty is at the heart of the matter
Authors: Charles Agyemang, Bert-Jan van den Born
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2018)

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pose a substantial threat to many health systems, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they are already overstretched.1WHOGlobal health estimates 2015: deaths by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–2015. World Health Organization, Geneva2017Google Scholar In the past few decades, deaths from NCDs in LMICs have spiked, whereas numbers in high-income countries have stabilised.1WHOGlobal health estimates 2015: deaths by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–2015. World Health Organization, Geneva2017Google Scholar Worryingly, a large proportion of deaths from NCDs (29%) in LMICs occur among people younger than 60 years compared with the proportion in high-income countries (13%).1WHOGlobal health estimates 2015: deaths by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–2015. World Health Organization, Geneva2017Google Scholar This finding has been attributed to poor access to effective and equitable health-care services in most LMICs. The threat of NCDs in LMICs was recognised by the UN 2011 High-Level Meeting,2UN General Assembly. High-level meeting on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases; New York, USA; Sept 19–20, 2011.Google Scholar and is now featured in Sustainable Development Goal 3 in the form of reducing premature mortality from NCDs by one-third before 2030.3UNSustainable Development Goals. United Nations, New York2015http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/Google Scholar Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of deaths from NCDs (ie, 48% of all NCDs deaths).1WHOGlobal health estimates 2015: deaths by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–2015. World Health Organization, Geneva2017Google Scholar Therefore, substantial reductions in CVDs will have a major impact on reducing the overall burden of NCDs globally. The good news is that most CVDs can be prevented by addressing the key underlying behavioural risk factors, such as physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, tobacco use, and harmful use of alcohol, through population-wide approaches. Among individuals with or at high risk of CVD, early detection and effective management with appropriate counselling and medicines can reduce cardiovascular deaths substantially.4Yusuf S Islam S Chow CK et al.Use of secondary prevention drugs for cardiovascular disease in the community in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries (the PURE study): a prospective epidemiological survey.Lancet. 2011; 378: 1231-1243Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (735) Google Scholar The importance of effective treatment for CVD has been recognised in the Global NCD Action Plan 2013–20, for which one of the nine global targets is that at least 50% of eligible individuals should receive drug therapy and counselling to prevent heart attacks and strokes by 2025.5WHOWHO Global Action Plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020. World Health Organization, Geneva2013http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/94384/1/9789241506236_eng.pdfGoogle Scholar Although admirable, this is a hard target to achieve given that secondary prevention strategies in LMICs are often unaffordable or unavailable.6Khatib R McKee M Shannon H et al.Availability and affordability of cardiovascular disease medicines and their effect on use in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: an analysis of the PURE study data.Lancet. 2016; 387: 61-69Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (229) Google Scholar In this issue of The Lancet Global Health, Adrianna Murphy and colleagues7Murphy A Palafox B O'Donnell O et al.Inequalities in the use of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status: evidence from the PURE observational study.Lancet Glob Health. 2018; 6: e292-e301Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (55) Google Scholar shed light on the inequalities in use of secondary prevention medicines for CVDs by socioeconomic groups in 21 countries at different levels of economic development by using the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study data. The authors examined 8492 participants with CVD, which was defined as self-reported myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or percutaneous coronary angioplasty, angina, or stroke. The use of CVD medicines was ascertained by self-report and verified by prescriptions or medical documents. The findings show an alarmingly low use of CVD medicines in many LMICs. The proportion of people with CVD using at least one drug was higher in the richest wealth index tertile group than in the poorest tertile group in all countries except for Canada, Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Poland, Malaysia, and the occupied Palestinian territory, where CVD drug use is either similar or higher among the poorest. Strikingly, the use of at least one drug was nearly 19 times higher among the richest tertile than among the poorest tertile in Pakistan; and six and four times higher among the richest tertile than among the poorest tertile in India and Zimbabwe. The key predictors of inequality in use of CVD medicine were public expenditure on health and overall use of secondary prevention medicines. The study by Murphy and colleagues7Murphy A Palafox B O'Donnell O et al.Inequalities in the use of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status: evidence from the PURE observational study.Lancet Glob Health. 2018; 6: e292-e301Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (55) Google Scholar has noticeable limitations, including the cross-sectional nature of the study, lack of data on lifestyle management to reduce CVD risk, and lack of information on what the medicines were specifically prescribed for. Nonetheless, the findings corroborate data on individual CVD risk factors and their treatment. For example, in the ongoing RODAM study on hypertension,8Agyemang C Nyaaba G Beune E et al.Variations in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control among Ghanaian migrants living in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, and nonmigrant Ghanaians living in rural and urban Ghana—the RODAM study.J Hypertens. 2018; 36: 169-177Crossref PubMed Scopus (37) Google Scholar about half of Ghanaian migrants in Europe and 85% of Ghanaians resident in rural Ghana with severe hypertension (blood pressure ≥180/110 mm Hg) were still untreated. The current findings from PURE have major implications for CVD prevention and management. Two main issues are highlighted: inequalities in access to CVD medicines between the richer nations and the poorer ones, and the large inequalities within countries. At the heart of the matter is the unequal distribution of wealth between and within countries. High-income countries have managed to reduce CVD deaths by more than 25% since 2000.9WHOGlobal health observatory data for 2012. World Health Organization, Geneva2012Google Scholar This reduction has largely been attributed to the introduction of policy interventions to reduce CVD risk factors, strategies to strengthen the health systems at the primary care level, and improvement of acute care with attention to early detection, treatment, and control.10Prabhakaran D Anand S Watkins D et al.Cardiovascular, respiratory, and related disorders: key messages from Disease Control Priorities.Lancet. 2017; (3rd edition) (published online Nov 3.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32471-6Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (73) Google Scholar By contrast, populations in LMICs have not benefited from the advances in CVD risk reduction and treatment as seen in high-income countries, primarily because policies aimed at the reduction of population-wide risk factors have not been widely adopted in LMICs, and the lack of capacity to do so.10Prabhakaran D Anand S Watkins D et al.Cardiovascular, respiratory, and related disorders: key messages from Disease Control Priorities.Lancet. 2017; (3rd edition) (published online Nov 3.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32471-6Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (73) Google Scholar Furthermore, CVD medicines in general are not affordable for most people in LMICs,11van Mourik MS Cameron A Ewen M Laing RO Availability, price and affordability of cardiovascular medicines: a comparison across 36 countries using WHO/HAI data.BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2010; 10: 25Crossref PubMed Scopus (109) Google Scholar and there are no social protection mechanisms such as insurance against large health-care-related expenditures, including the cost of medicines in many LMICs. This means that only a fraction of people in LMICs can afford CVD medicine and this subsequently leads to huge inequalities in access to medicines. This suggests that the Global NCD Action Plan's target of achieving 50% drug coverage for eligible patients with CVD will be very difficult unless major efforts are made.12Nyaaba GN Stronks K de-Graft Aikins A Kengne AP Agyemang C Tracing Africa's progress towards implementing the Non-Communicable Diseases Global action plan 2013–2020: a synthesis of WHO country profile reports.BMC Public Health. 2017; 17: 297Crossref PubMed Scopus (57) Google Scholar Improving access to CVD medicines is a key strategy to substantially decrease NCD morbidity and mortality globally. Achieving this will require narrowing inequalities in accessibility to CVD medicines both between and within countries. Despite these grim statistics there is a glimmer of hope from the Brazilian experience, which provides a good example of a successful policy approach to reduce inequality in preventive and primary care, with the most common medications free at the point of service for all citizens.13Macinko J Harris MJ Brazil's family health strategy—delivering community-based primary care in a universal health system.N Engl J Med. 2015; 372: 2177-2181Crossref PubMed Scopus (277) Google Scholar The poorest municipalities in Brazil have particularly benefited from the country's Family Health Strategy Program, which has been associated with reductions in CVD deaths and hospital admissions.14Rocha R Soares RR Evaluating the impact of community-based health interventions: evidence from Brazil's Family Health Program.Health Econ. 2010; 19: 126-158Crossref PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar, 15Rasella D Harhay MO Pamponet ML Aquino R Barreto ML Impact of primary health care on mortality from heart and cerebrovascular diseases in Brazil: a nationwide analysis of longitudinal data.BMJ. 2014; 349: g4014Crossref PubMed Scopus (160) Google Scholar These and other examples might hopefully inspire the development of new secondary prevention initiatives that help mitigate the increasing worldwide burden of NCDs. We declare no competing interests. Inequalities in the use of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status: evidence from the PURE observational studyUse of medication for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease is alarmingly low. In many countries with the lowest use, pro-rich inequality is greatest. Policies associated with an equal or pro-poor distribution include free medications and community health programmes to support adherence to medications. Full-Text PDF Open Access