Drug availability and accessibility has been a priority across the globe for an important reason. Death due to easily preventable diseases can never be justified and should be considered morally degrading. Underdeveloped countries are prone to such injustices and this matter should be of global concern. As such, drug companies should reconsider their marketing goals and help serve populations that cannot afford medicines for easily treatable conditions.
Poor countries end up in a tireless loop of poverty due to lack of affordable healthcare. Not only are the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the adverse outcomes caused by curable diseases, they are also the cause for economic distress in the country. To end this demise, aid in the form of cheap medicines should be made available for common diseases at the least. This would in turn boost the struggling economy and in turn increase the financial stability of the country. It would be a win-win situation for both the society and pharmaceutical industries at large. As such, drug companies should be compelled to price their medicines at an affordable rate and governments should take up initiatives to help the disease stricken population.
One instance where this is highly evident is, during the malarial epidemic in my In the country, subsidized malarial drugs were handed out by the government at the appropriate time which in turn prevented an economic collapse in various poverty stricken communities. These drugs decreased the healthcare expenditure and they helped decrease the number of sick leaves taken, thereby reducing the disease impact on the productivity of the working class population.
To conclude, it is quite obvious that pharmaceutical companies should join hands with the government to help revive the diseased communities in underdeveloped countries. The liability falls on the drug companies and as such they should deliver medicines at an affordable rate to these poverty stricken countries.