The World Bank has published a guide to procurement of drugs and other medical supplies for use in HIV treatment and care, targeted at people responsible for making procurement decisions. Although intended primarily for World Bank staff, the guide is likely to prove useful to many involved in planning antiretroviral programmes.
The guide contains:
- Detailed guidance on intellectual property issues, including useful flowcharts for immediate assessment of the need for detailed patent advice on individual agents or fixed dose combinations.
- Guidance on how to use World Banks funds to purchase generic ARVs if they are the cheapest agents available.
- Advice on procurement procesess such as tendering, pooled procurement and where to go for assistance with procurement.
- Suggestions on how to obtain lower drug prices and how to calculate the cost of an ARV programme.
- Information on purchasing diagnostics, including HIV testing kits.
The guide can be downloaded from the World Bank website.
Click here to directly download the guide in pdf form (906kb)
To view other World Bank HIV/AIDS-related publications, click here.