MeTA Philippines:Sharing Responsibility,

Achieving as One

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Introduction Philippines challenges and progress in access to medicines

and improving governance and transparency Early experience with using MeTA to bring stakeholders

together to increase momentum towards these goals What would other countries like to know about Philippines’

experience with setting up MeTA Council and national multistakeholder forum?

What would other countries like to know about pre-existing measures to increase transparency and governance in relation to medicines procurement and prices

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Challenges in the Philippines

High cost of medicines Non transparent mechanisms of medicines pricing High out-of-pocket payments – burdening the poor

and the disadvantaged Preference for branded medicines Low availability in many local government health

centers

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Government Goals:

Improve access to essential medicines by:a. Cutting the price of essential medicines to 50 %

from base prices in 2004b. Reducing out-of-pocket paymentsc. Improving generic competition and assuring qualityd. Instituting mechanisms for transparency and good

governancee. Engaging local governments in these goals

Achievements and Strengths

Strong civil society tradition Health Reforms geared towards improved access (Affordable and Quality medicines) Reforms towards transparency, and good governnance (Fourmula I) DOH works with CSOs in monitoring procurement and

distribution of medicines and advocating for legislation on access to medicines

Philippines national social health insurance fund

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Basic Strategy

Multi-stakeholder Collaboration

Sharing Responsibility, Achieving as One

through

Building MeTA in the Philippines

Scoping Visit April 2007

Technical Working Group Meetings to form MeTA Structure

May to July, 2007

Invitation and enlisting of prospective members

July to September, 2007

Election of Officers November, 2007

Induction of Officers, & First National Multi-Stakeholder Forum (Launch)

December 2007

Induction

The MeTA Stakeholders

Who are involved?

The MeTA Council 24-member

Council Chaired by a

former Health Secretary

Policy Makers Department of Health, Senate,

House of Representatives

Service Providers Phil Health Insurance Corporation, Phil International Trading Corporation, Local Government

Regulators, Oversight Agencies

Bureau of Food and Drugs, Commission on Audit, Dept of Budget Management

Civil Society Professional Groups, Academe, NGO’s, CSO Watch Groups

International

Development Partners

WHO, World Bank, EU, GTZ

Industry Some MNCs, Philippines Chamber of Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

How do we work?

MeTA Council

Administrative Committee

Technical CommitteeResearch and Assessments

Secretariat and In-Country Coordinator

(WHO Country Office)

MeTA Forum

How the Council Works Structure/Operations

Collegial body, each with one vote

Guided by an Internal Rules

Meets regularly every three months, with some

“disciplinary” measures for non-active members Function of Council

Propose policies for government and other sectors to act upon

Decides/votes on matters of membership, programmes, activities, etc

Little Big Wins

Forging a strong multi stakeholder collaboration Pooling resources and technical expertise to support

government reforms Policy inputs to major issues (Affordable and Quality

Medicines Act of 2008, Pric Monitoring, Generics, TRIPs) First to launch MeTA and National Forum on Medicines

Transparency Set up MeTA Council Office

Current Activities MeTA Assessment Package

– Facility and Household Survey (initial funding from WHO)– Assessment of LGU Procurements (tech support from EU)

Development of the MeTA-Phil Website Academic and technical discussions on issues surrounding

the Cheaper Medicines Bill National Awards for Good Governance in Medicines

– WHO-led The Philippines Pharmaceutical Benchbook

– WHO-led

Integrating MeTA Support into Local reforms

Health Reforms: FOURmula I for Health (F1)

Service delivery

Financing

Regulations

Good Governance

MeTA

Transparency and Good Governance

Assessment and Technical Support

Systems for proper resource management and building sustainable financing models

Improved access and supportto decentralized systems

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Summary

What has been learned: A multi-stakeholder collaboration can work Need for facilitating organization to coordinate and

organize at country level Willingness to share resources to jump start

activities. In-country initiative and ownership is important

Lessons Learned

“ Every collaborator must concede a little…”

in order to gain more

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Useful Information Available on Request MeTA Council documents

– Internal rules of the MeTA Council– Member Declaration of Interest– Proceedings of MeTA National Stakeholder Forum– Proceedings of Regular Meetings

Government documents– Philippines National Drug Policy– Philippines National Drug Formulary– DOH Administrative Order governing health reform (“FOURmula One”)– Cheaper Medicines Bill 2008

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Thank You