Mladen,
I couldn’t agree more with what you are saying. The idea of a broad and all-encompassing view of access, and within a common framework, was exactly the one behind my brief comment. And you very well, as always, elaborated on this bringing in a bigger picture. Access to (benefits of) medical devices, and health technology as a whole to this matter, is indispensable element in achieving effective coverage with health interventions, and I’ve been actively promoting these ideas when my team at WHO was responsible in early 2000s for the WHO work on developing the concepts of effective coverage and designing tools and indicators for its measurement. And when we talk about health technology in this context, it is natural to view it in its broad internationally accepted definition encompassing not only devices and drugs, but also procedures, and organizational and supportive systems, e.g. virtually everything that constitute health systems and make them work for better health.
Best regards.
Andrei Issakov
