Biopharmaceutical leader Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. (“Takeda Philippines”), together with its partners, recently released a Catalogue of Partnership Opportunities as part of its commitment to support the government in strengthening the Philippine healthcare system. Developed with insights and expertise gathered from their Access to Medicines summit held last October 11-12, 2022, in Manila, Philippines, the catalogue aims to provide various stakeholders ideas on possible collaborations between public and private entities, and opportunities to improve access to medicines for Filipinos.
The Access to Medicines Summit 2022 themed “Onward to a Transformed Healthcare System by 2030,” brought together a diverse range of stakeholders guided by the vision for a sustained access to quality and affordable medicines and vaccines and reduced out-of-pocket health spending aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 3.8 and the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Act.
Based on data from state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in 2022, Filipinos still shoulder out-of-pocket expenditure ranging from 34 to 44.7 percent1. The elderly, women, rural and poor Filipinos are more likely to spend more.
“The Catalogue of Partnership Opportunities is an invaluable resource for stakeholders from different sectors, advocating for collaboration and innovation,” Loreann Villanueva, Country Manager of Takeda Healthcare Philippines shared. “At Takeda Healthcare Philippines, we believe in the power of partnerships to improve access to medicines and enhance the overall health and well-being of Filipinos. Ensuring that quality healthcare services reach every individual in the country requires collective efforts from the public and private sectors. In the area of cancer management, for example, we have made efforts to implement unique patient assistance programs that consider the patient’s capacity to pay, in collaboration with their healthcare providers. This allows us to provide Filipino patients with broader access to innovative therapies for blood cancers such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma.”
The Catalogue of Partnership Opportunities encapsulates the combined aspirations, success stories and insights shared by the attendees of the summit. It serves as a comprehensive resource that captures the ideas of stakeholders who were physically present at the event, as well as those whose perspectives were represented by their organizations.
“The health of our country is not just about being free of certain illnesses alone, but it’s about total health services and wellness, and improved quality of life,” Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. of the Department of Interior and Local Government shared. Abalos highlighted the importance of working with the Local Government Units to improve access to medicines and achieve universal healthcare in the country.
“This partnership helps to identify major and critical barriers to medicine access,” Val Ulep, Senior Research Fellow of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said. “Through this collaboration, we are also able to come up with innovative ways on how to overcome these setbacks.”
The catalogue identified eight key areas for partnership opportunities: access programs, capacity building, data management, digitalization, health information management and communication, policy and governance, supply chain management, and sustainable health financing.
“The goal is to make the catalogue accessible to all and raise awareness about the multitude of partnership opportunities available to drive the transformation of the Philippine healthcare system by 2030. We believe that the best way to ensure patients have timely access to medicines is by building trusted, effective and lasting local partnerships. By strengthening health systems together, we can better support the patient journey through health promotion and prevention, diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care,” added Villanueva.
While current health-related interventions and programs are in place, the catalogue highlights the untapped potential for collaboration that can further enhance access to medicines and other health technologies. Anchored by Takeda’s patient-first approach with their partners collectively, they aspire to combine resources, expertise, responsibilities, leadership, and coordination to address access barriers and strengthen local standards of care.
The Access to Medicines Summit 2022 participants includes representatives from the Department of Health, Department of Trade, and Industry, Department of the Interior and Local Government, healthcare professional societies, patient organizations, academia, financing institutions, NGOs and more. The summit is also in collaboration with RiseAboveNow Business Consulting as co-convenor and technical partner.
Read the Access to Medicines White Paper to learn more about the multi-stakeholder partnership and how it aims to improve medicine access in the Philippines.
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