Resumo

RAMIREZ RAMIREZ, Martha Ofelia. La Prescripción de medicamentos y su repercusión socialDrug prescription and its social impact. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2006, vol.32, n.4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3127.

A significant proportion of the world population does not have access to main drugs, which has an effect on human health. For this reason, health systems put their management at stake since they neither guarantee access to these drug nor assure the availability of those that are effective, safe and of good quality. Very often, commercial-oriented criteria prevail over health /social reasons in the selection of drugs because the big drug companies draw market strategies to protect their products by means of patents and brand drugs, which make them more expensive and less accesible to the poorest populations. This problem has aroused strong discrepancies between the states and the drug companies. The World Health Organization has designed the Essential Drug Program since 1985, as an alternative solution to this situation. The present article is intended to show that in many cases, the objectives of stability and economic growth do not agree with the social requirements of welfare and this is reflected on the progressive reduction of the role of the state in assuring the necessary optimal drugs for the community. It proved that drug policies aimed at meeting health needs, improving quality of life and reducing mortality should be implemented

Palavras-chave : Drug prescription; rational drug use; drug accesibility.