Abstract

Despite Canada’s efforts to position itself as a global health leader, important medicines, including multiple drugs found on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, are not available domestically. Of the fourteen medicines found in the Interagency Emergency Health Kit, the most basic distillation of the global health toolkit designed for responding to acute humanitarian crises, only ten are currently sold in Canada; alternative treatments that are available may not be as effective or affordable. Their absence highlights broader issues with Canada’s market-driven system of access to medicines, with implications for the care of refugees and other populations, while serving as a reminder of the importance of ensuring access to essential medicines in all settings.

Details

Title
Lessons from the Interagency Emergency Health Kit for access to essential medicines in Canada
Author
Houston, Adam R 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Nickerson, Jason W 2 

1  University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Ottawa, Canada (GRID:grid.28046.38) (ISNI:0000 0001 2182 2255) 
2  Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada (GRID:grid.418792.1) (ISNI:0000 0000 9064 3333); University of Ottawa, Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, Faculty of Law, Ottawa, Canada (GRID:grid.28046.38) (ISNI:0000 0001 2182 2255) 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Dec 2019
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
ISSN
23643412
e-ISSN
23643404
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-019-0049-8
ProQuest document ID
2429904831
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.