Abstract
Access to controlled medications is problematic in many countries, in spite of the objectives of the international substance control conventions. The review describes barriers for accessing medications and how to assess the adequacy of opioid analgesic consumption globally. As current trends in consumption, it discusses the lack of progress of improving access and the threat of the false narrative that people who suffer moderate to severe pain are the cause of an epidemic of opioid intoxications. Finally, it questions the feasibility of an approach which requires large numbers of anaesthesiologist for treating chronic pain, and wonders what the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on accessibility to controlled medications will be.
Highlights
Access to controlled medications is problematic in many countries, in spite of the objectives of the international substance control conventions, which are to ensure their medical and scientific availability while preventing non-medical use (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2009a; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2009b).Psychoactive substances are indicated for a number of conditions and diseases, including pain, anaesthesia, opioid use disorder, dyspnoea, epilepsy, obstetric emergencies, and psychological crises
Measurement of opioid analgesic consumption is an important tool for defining public-health policies aimed at improving pain management
Looking at the strengths of the Access to Controlled Medicines Measure (ACM), the AOC Index and the Lancet Commission methods, an ideal method would use a benchmark composed of the need from 20 diseases from the latter method followed by extrapolation to the need for all diseases as applied in the ACM
Summary
Access to controlled medications is problematic in many countries, in spite of the objectives of the international substance control conventions, which are to ensure their medical and scientific availability while preventing non-medical use (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2009a; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2009b). The number of people potentially not being treated for pain is much higher: in 2015, 5.7 billion people lived in countries where the per capita consumption of opioid analgesics is very or extremely low, and Scholten: Access to Controlled Medications another half a billion lived in countries for which no data were available, but which have so many similarities to the former countries, that it is likely that their populations have no access either. This is a constant percentage of the world population and with an increasing world population, the number of people potentially affected is increasing (Scholten et al 2019; Scholten et al 2020). It did not indicate a right level,’ the work of PPSG made it self-evident that there is a large number of countries with under consumption
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
