Talking about the role of the EU in the developing world EC Director General for Development Stefano Manservisi described the new approach to health development policy on a global level: "From donorship to partnership". He explained that access to medicine needs to be viewed as not only provision of medicines but rather the ability to produce and distribute on a regional level in order to achieve sustainability of systems in the future.
One aspect to consider is the fact that there are thousands of organisations working to achieve these or similar goals. This fragmentation of efforts is costing a lot of money and if synergies were to be created the Commission estimates that €5-7 billion a year could be saved in process costs alone. Thus the new challenge is to create a global platform for coordination while at the same time ensuring accountability, transparency and responsibility of the recipient countries. In plain words, the health development policy needs to "simply" increase its level of sophistication as a key success factor of the future.
I am convinced the medical technology industry with its many initiatives to allow for greater patient choice in the developing worlds is ready to step in and contribute to this ambitious goal.
Mark Grossien