2008年12月1号，来自日内瓦的报道。据WTO对36个成员国及世界银行收入群体的调查显示，由于公共医疗卫生服务部门数量不足，大多数人不得不去私人诊所等私人的医疗部门去购买药物及接受医疗服务。而私人医疗部门药价及服务费用相对较高，这样就增加了人们在医疗卫生方面的开支。因此政府有必要采取措施来健全公共医疗卫生部门，从而减轻国民的医疗负担。

1 December 2008 | GENEVA -- An alarming lack of availability of essential medicines in the public sector drives patients to pay higher prices in the private sector or go without, according to a WHO study reported in today’s online edition of The Lancet. The results confirm that governments must do more to improve access to essential medicines as part of their efforts to make national health systems more efficient and equitable.

The study analysed data from surveys in 36 countries from all WHO geographical regions and World Bank income groups. Results show an average public-sector availability of only 38% across surveys. This forces patients to buy medicines from the private sector where treatments are more expensive and frequently unaffordable. In Africa, for example, the lowest-paid government worker needs to spend two days' salary each month to purchase diabetes treatment using the lowest-priced generic medicine. When the originator brand is used, costs escalate to over eight days' wages.

“You should not have to choose between buying medication for an ailing parent or buying food for your children,” said Carissa Etienne, WHO Assistant Director-General of Health Systems and Services. “It is not fair or necessary. That is why we are calling again for comprehensive primary health care, so that health systems in every country put the real health needs of people and communities first, and families are not impoverished or bankrupted because of health care payments.”

On the pricing side, the study revealed that “cuts” taken by wholesalers, distributors and retailers plus government taxes and duties are driving prices beyond affordability in many countries. In some countries, add-on costs can double the public-sector price of medicine, while in the private sector, wholesale mark-ups ranged from 2% to 380%, and retail mark-ups ranged from 10% to 552%.