People in underdeveloped countries suffering from poverty are at the highest risk of disease mortality as a result of expensive healthcare. This essay strongly believes that pharmaceutical companies should lower the prices of their products in these regions as it increases the overall availability of safer healthcare and may aid in strengthening herd immunity in such communities.
Firstly, lower medication costs lead to greater access to safe healthcare. This is because people will be able to afford certified and tested drugs instead of relying on counterfeit or illegal, dangerous medicines that have not been tested for safe use. For instance, untested medications may be contaminated by lethal compounds such as mercury, lead and other poisons. Therefore, it is vital that patients receive proper medication and not resort to poor-quality drugs due to cost.
Moving on, increased availability of vaccines may help generate herd immunity in poverty-stricken communities. When people are not able to afford vaccines, they may suffer adverse health effects or even death because of poor immunity to different infections. Unvaccinated individuals are prone to various infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, mumps, rubella and so on. However, not everyone can receive vaccines, such as people who may be allergic to vaccines or extremely immunocompromised patients. Therefore, these individuals rely on herd immunity, which is formed when a majority of a community gains immunity from vaccines. Thus, by decreasing the costs of vaccines in financially disabled countries, communities are more likely protected from possibly fatal infections.
In conclusion, drug companies must consider lowering product prices for poor countries so that people living in these countries are able to receive proper healthcare and are safe from various diseases through herd immunity.