Capacity Building
Practical guidance and training in local capacity building are also important to improve access to medicines.
In developing countries, access to medicines is hampered by various factors such as inadequate public medical insurance systems and medical infrastructure, lack of human resources for manufacturing and quality control of medicines, rampant use of counterfeit medicines, and poverty.
In order to improve access to medicines, JPMA and its member companies consider practical guidance and training in local capacity building as important issues.
Practical guidance
JPMA and its member companies are working with stakeholders to improve access to medicines in developing countries by providing technical guidance to local people on the manufacturing and quality control of medicines.
2. Education and training
In developing countries, appropriate medical care may not reach patients due to a lack of medical resources, inadequate medical infrastructure, and inadequate capacity of medical personnel. To improve healthcare in developing countries, we are working with local governments to improve the capacity of healthcare professionals in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
3. Efforts to improve access to healthcare
In developing countries, there are areas where access to health care is inadequate due to the lack of social and medical infrastructure. In addition, there are areas and people who do not have sufficient awareness of healthcare due to lack of opportunities to gain knowledge about hygiene and diseases.
We will work to improve the awareness of and access to sanitation and healthcare for local people, and contribute to raising the standard of healthcare worldwide.
Examples of member companies' efforts
| Strengthening AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria control for women's and children's health | Although significant progress has been made in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria over the past decade, progress has been slow due to the spread of drug resistance and lack of funding. The Takeda Initiative is a 15-year partnership with the Global Fund, which began in 2010 with the Takeda Initiative 1 to strengthen malaria prevention through the distribution of mosquito nets in Tanzania, improve access to tuberculosis treatment in Kenya, and provide care and awareness of AIDS in Nigeria. From 2020, Takeda Initiative 2 aims to achieve universal health coverage in several African countries by integrating prenatal and postnatal health checkups with high-quality AIDS, TB, and malaria care to help improve the health of mothers and children. |
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| Strengthening the evidence base to improve child survival and health worldwide | Worldwide, more than 5 million children under the age of 5 die each year, with about half of these deaths occurring in newborns under the age of one month, and the second largest number due to childhood infectious diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea. Although many of these diseases are preventable, the gap between the realities and the challenges is significant, The Chair in Global Child Health will train up-and-coming researchers to become leaders in child survival and health through innovative research, including vaccines, neonatal care, malnutrition, and the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. The program also aims to benefit children's health around the world by bridging the gap between research, public policy, and healthcare delivery. |
| Contributing to improving access to healthcare in 85 countries through 24 programs, aiming to realize a world where all people have access to healthcare | Takeda actively collaborates with leading international organizations and NGOs with proven track records in solving global health challenges. Many of the problems that emerge cannot be solved by stopgap measures, and it takes time to achieve sustainable results. That is why we launched our Global CSR Program in 2016 as part of our stable, long-term support measures.
Under this program, we support activities in developing and emerging countries to prevent disease, train local health workers, strengthen supply chains, and improve access to quality healthcare. The most significant feature of the program is that each year all of Eisai's approximately 50,000 employees worldwide vote on which new activities to support. |
| Accepting fellows from developing countries and providing training | Through the WHO-TDR (Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases), Eisai accepts fellows from developing countries at its overseas sites and provides them with training in capacity building in clinical development.
Eisai Inc. (based in New Jersey, USA) accepted fellows from the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2010 and from the Republic of Colombia in 2011, and provided them with training to acquire clinical development and clinical trial management skills. Upon their return to their home countries, each has taken a leadership role in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases and the development of therapeutic drugs in their home countries. Furthermore, in 2015, Eisai accepted a medical student intern from the Republic of Indonesia, a country endemic for lymphatic filariasis, at its Tokyo Head Office to provide training related to activities to control lymphatic filariasis, thereby supporting control of the disease through human resource development. |
| Improving diagnostic techniques for dementia/providing disease awareness | Eisai launched an education and awareness program in India in 2005 to raise awareness of dementia. Eisai develops and distributes educational materials to raise awareness of dementia, organizes lectures by neurologists and psychiatrists, supports the holding of mobile screening camps by volunteer doctors, and supports the opening of memory clinics ("outpatient memory loss clinics") and the education and training of medical staff. To date, Eisai has conducted screening camps at 4,421 locations and screened more than 61,883 people. In addition, Eisai has supported the submission of the National Dementia Strategy 2010 to the Government of India. Eisai's efforts have brought the number of memory clinics to 69 across India.
Eisai's efforts are also being extended beyond India. For example, in the Philippines, in cooperation with the Dementia Society of the Philippines, we are supporting the establishment of memory clinics throughout the country and providing education and training for neurologists, psychiatrists, and geriatricians. |
| Developing new drugs for mycetoma and providing disease awareness | Mycetoma is a neglected tropical disease that is transmitted through the skin and, if left untreated, causes massive masses on the hands and feet. It is considered one of the most neglected tropical diseases due to a lack of basic information on how it is transmitted and how many people are affected, as well as limited treatment options. Eisai is collaborating with the Mycetoma Research Centre, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), and the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) in Sudan, one of the endemic countries, to create a new treatment for mycetoma. In collaboration with the Mycetoma Research Centre, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), and the Global Health Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), we are conducting the world's first double-blind mycetoma study of our proprietary antifungal agent fosravuconazole (E1224) and are in discussions with Sudanese regulatory authorities regarding the future regulatory approval process. In parallel, Eisai is engaged in dialogue with stakeholders in Sudan and abroad to develop an access plan to efficiently deliver the new therapeutic agent to a large number of patients.
Eisai has also entered into a partnership with the Association for Aid and Relief Japan (AAR Japan), an international NGO, to support its project to combat mycetoma in Sudan from 2019. Since the start of activities, the project has provided treatment and surgery to more than 190 patients, conducted disease awareness activities for more than 2,800 residents, and is promoting a comprehensive and sustainable approach, including capacity building for local partner organizations. This project was selected by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) under its FY2022 "Project for Promotion of International Deployment of Medical Technology," and with the cooperation of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, two online training sessions were held for cooperative organizations and medical personnel involved in the fight against mycetoma in Sudan, where active discussions were held on how to control NTDs. |
| Technical cooperation on the production of MR vaccine (measles and rubella combined vaccine) | Daiichi Sankyo Biotech (formerly Kitasato Daiichi Sankyo Vaccine), a subsidiary of Daiichi Sankyo, provided technical assistance for the first domestic production of a combined measles and rubella vaccine in Vietnam, and vaccination of Vietnamese children has started. |
| Funding efforts to control malaria | Sumitomo Pharma is supporting malaria control efforts in several countries in Africa and Asia.
In collaboration with NPOs, local governments, and local communities, Sumitomo Pharma distributes mosquito nets and simple test kits in India, Zambia, Tanzania, and Indonesia, conducts educational support activities, and cooperates in holding malaria awareness events in Japan. |
| Funding efforts to improve access to health care | Sumitomo Pharma supports efforts to improve access to healthcare in low- and middle-income countries by collaborating with NPOs, local governments, and local communities, and cooperating in a nurse training project in Bangladesh and a tuberculosis screening project along with a doctor training project in Haiti. |
| Funding efforts to improve access to health care | Astellas collaborates and supports the activities of external partners to remove barriers to health care and strengthen health care systems as an important approach to improving access to health care.
■ Malaysia; Astellas has been working with the National Cancer Society of Malaysia and the Asian Cancer Forum, a general incorporated association, since 2022 on the BEAUTY & Health program for prevention and early detection of multiple screenable cancers in multi-ethnic Malaysia. The comprehensive initiative includes the development of multiple cancer educational materials and cancer risk management portals, as well as awareness-raising activities based at local barbershops and beauty salons. ■ Peru; Astellas has partnered with the City Cancer Challenge Foundation since 2022 to strengthen and improve the health care system in the city of Arequipa, where cancer is a growing public health challenge. Astellas is promoting multidisciplinary collaboration, introducing a digital health ecosystem, and building the capacity of oncology specialists. Mexico; Astellas is collaborating with AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) Mexico starting in 2023 to launch a community-based health knowledge and understanding program targeting three types of cancer (breast, cervical, and prostate). The program supports the promotion of community-based programs to deepen health knowledge and understanding of the three cancers (breast, cervical, and prostate), as well as testing for early diagnosis. ■ Dominican Republic; Astellas supports prostate awareness and screening campaigns through MAP International beginning in 2023. Astellas will conduct educational campaigns in high-traffic areas and use mobile screening equipment in rural areas, aiming to prevent prostate cancer in its early stages and provide continuous treatment after screening. |
| Contributing to the improvement of maternal and child health | Sumitomo Pharma is working with People's Hope Japan, a non-profit organization, to train mother and child health care volunteers (CCMNs) in rural areas of Cambodia, where many infants under the age of two are developmentally stunted. CCMNs also educate parents and local communities about the dietary and oral care needs of infants. |
| Contributing to the improvement of maternal and child health | Shionogi has been working on the Mother to Mother SHIONOGI Project since 2015 with the goals of "improving the health of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under 5" and "operating independent health services" in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with extremely high mortality rates among pregnant and nursing mothers and children under 5. In the third phase of the project, which began in 2023, we are working to improve the health of mothers and children in cooperation with the international NGO World Vision Japan in the Republic of Kenya and the public interest incorporated foundation JOICFP in the Republic of Ghana. In particular, the project will focus on improving access to healthcare and sanitation, which are major issues in LMICs, and reducing diarrheal diseases that cause child mortality. |
| Program to strengthen the proper use of antimicrobials to combat AMR in Vietnam | Sumitomo Pharma, in collaboration with the local government and the National Center for Global Medical Research (NCGM), is implementing a program to strengthen the proper use of antimicrobials, including drug susceptibility surveillance research, as a measure against AMR at major medical facilities in Vietnam, which has the highest drug resistance rate in Southeast Asia, starting in 2019 Daiichi Sankyo is a non-profit organization. |
| Breast and cervical cancer screening camp project in Nepal | In January 2021, Daiichi Sankyo launched the "Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Camp Project" in Nepal in collaboration with AMDA Social Development Organization, a non-profit organization. The project aims to increase the number of people undergoing cancer screening and to detect cancer in its early stage by expanding screening services and improving residents' knowledge of breast and cervical cancer through screening camps and educational activities in Gokarneshwar district, Kathmandu district. |
| Strengthening of SRHR and medical infrastructure for breast and cervical cancer in Zimbabwe | In collaboration with Plan International, an international NGO, Daiichi Sankyo launched an initiative in Zimbabwe in April 2021 to raise awareness and strengthen medical services related to SRHR and breast and cervical cancer. The project aims to improve knowledge on breast and cervical cancer and SRHR, and to create an environment where women can easily access medical services. (2) Raising awareness of SRHR, gender equality, and cervical and breast cancer among local residents, and (3) Advocacy to local governments. |
Examples of JPMA's efforts
| Project for Promotion of Appropriate Use of Medicines Using Medication Support Tools via Clinical Pharmacists in Vietnam | The Access Group of the Global Health Subcommittee of the JPMA International Affairs Committee is implementing activities to contribute to improving access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries. As part of this activity, for the three years from FY2019 to FY2021, clinical pharmacists in Vietnam have been working to promote the proper use of medicines. This activity has been adopted as one of the projects to promote the international deployment of medical technology, etc. implemented by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine. |
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