Dr Margaret Chan, Director General WHO spoke at a technical symposium on "Access to Medicines: Pricing and Procurement Practices" in Geneva today.
The purpose of the symposium is to learn what international and regional agencies have experienced in the pricing and procurement of medicines. This event should lay the groundwork for continuing dialogue among the collaborating organisations.

Dr Chan explained why the price of medicines is such a critical and emotive issue for public health. In her speech she emphasised that in developing countries medicines are the second greatest household expenditure, right behind food.
The organisation of a country’s pharmaceutical sector together with efficient distribution is very important when it comes to price effects. Prices for generic medicines, in both the public and private sectors, are substantially much lower if procurement and distribution procedures were more efficient, corruption-free and mark-ups were reasonable.

Please use the following link to read the complete speech by Dr Chan:
http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2010/access_medicines_20100716/en/index.html

For more information on the symposium "Access to Medicines: Pricing and Procurement Practices" use the following links:
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news10_e/trip_21jun10_e.htm
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2010/article_0022.html