Demand Forecasting for Essential Medical Technologies
In: American Journal of Law & Medicine, Jg. 34 (2008), S. 225
academicJournal
Zugriff:
I. INTRODUCTION Today's global health programs will attain their objectives only if products appropriate to the health problems in low- and middle-income countries are developed, manufactured and made available when and where they are needed. Achieving this requires mobilizing public and charitable money for more and better products to diagnose, prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, reproductive health problems and childhood killers. But more money is only one part of the story. Weak links in the global health value chain--from research and development through service delivery--are constraining on-the-ground access to essential products. The consequences of those weak links are many: supply shortages, inefficient use of scarce funding, reluctance to invest in R&D for developing country needs and, most importantly, the loss of life among those who need essential products. One of the weakest links is the forecasting of demand for critical medical technologies, including vaccines, medicines and diagnostic products. Demand forecasting, which may seem at first glance to be a small piece of the very large puzzle of access to medical products, is of central importance. Many of the shortcomings in funding and functioning of health systems impede accurate forecasting of demand--and without the ability to forecast demand with reasonable certainty and some assurance of a viable market, manufacturers cannot scale production capacity, make commitments to suppliers of raw materials or justify a business case for investing in costly clinical trials and other activities to develop future products. National governments and international ...
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Demand Forecasting for Essential Medical Technologies
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Levine, Ruth |
Zeitschrift: | American Journal of Law & Medicine, Jg. 34 (2008), S. 225 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2008 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
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