Pharmaceutical Public Health
An emerging field in global health
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 3.8 aims to “achieve universal health coverage (UHC), which includes financial risk protection, access to quality essential healthcare services, and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all”. However, billions of people in low-resource settings do not have access to affordable medicines, vaccines and other health products. Furthermore, many are exposed to the risk of receiving substandard or falsified products.
Pharmaceutical public health is an emerging field in global health, which aims at analysing and strengthening the pharmaceutical systems. It requires a multidisciplinary approach to navigate and integrate the different components of an effective pharmaceutical system. Not only research, but also education should integrate different disciplines and approaches. We do this with our short course Pharmaceutical Policies in Health Systems, launched in 2021.
Research portal
Explore the publications and projects of this unit in the research portal of ITM.
Fighting a global inequity
The reasons for the gap in access to quality-assured health products are multifactorial, ranging from an inadequate global governance of pharmaceutical innovation that prioritizes commercial interests over public health, to the weakness of many national pharmaceutical and regulatory systems. The strengthening of pharmaceutical systems should be based on the overarching assumptions that areas of interventions are interconnected to each other, and that essential health products are public goods, not commercial commodities.
Dive into the world of pharmaceutical public health
Reports
Webinar 'Is Access to Medicines Improving in Francophone Africa? What Central Medical Stores Know That No One Asks':
Toward a multidisciplinary approach in research on quality of medicines (2020)
News
Prof Raffaella Ravinetto has been awarded the 2024 Helen Clark-JoPPP Award - Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice (2024)
The Global Divide: Unequal Access to Mpox Vaccines and Medicines - Tarrafeta (2024)
Securing access to essential medicines in Europe – Unpacking the potential of the EU List of Critical Medicines - Tarrafeta (2024)
The hidden crisis of children without access to pain therapy - Ravinetto, Tshilengi, Kananga (2023)
The often lethal “side effects” of sanctions on pharmaceutical systems - Aljadeeah, Ravinetto (2023)
Uncertainties about the quality of medical products globally: lessons from multidisciplinary research - Kingori, Peeters, Abimbola, Ravinetto (BMJ Global Health, 2023)
After reviewing progress on improving global medicine quality, participants plan next global conference (Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, 2023)
The global gap in access to opioid analgesics for pain management: why is this (still) a silent crisis? - Ravinetto (2023)
Towards a new structural approach to pharmaceutical innovation, intellectual property and public health: If not now, when? - Ravinetto (2021)
Switching the poles of infectious diseases outbreaks: Time for a new gaze? - Ravinetto (2020)
BTI Blog - Ravinetto
Interesting links
Be-cause Health: Belgian platform on international health and access to quality medicines
Quality Medicines for all (QUAMED)
Medicine Quality – Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO)
Stay informed
Raffaella Ravinetto
Dr Raffaella Ravinetto is an associate professor within and Head of the Department of Public Health.
Follow her on Bluesky or explore her research profile.
Saleh Aljadeeah
Dr Saleh Aljadeeah is a post-doc researcher within the Department of Public Health.
Follow him on Bluesky or explore his research profile.
Belen Tarrafeta
Belen Tarrafeta is a policy advisor and researcher within the Department of Public Health.
Follow her on Bluesky or explore her research profile.
Loes Meukens
Loes Meukens is a research assistant within the Department of Public Health.
Explore her research profile.
Carine Dochez
Dr Carine Dochez is a post-doc researcher within the Department of Public Health.
Explore her research profile.
Centre of Excellence for Pharmacovigilance in Southern Africa (CEPSA)
In close collaboration with the School of Public Health and the School of Pharmacy at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), we will lead initiatives to strengthen pharmacovigilance activities in South Africa and more broadly in the Southern African Region.
Related events
News
All news-
A conversation with Marleen Boelaert Scholarship grantee Faradiba Faradiba (Indonesia) and Professor Raffaella Ravinetto (ITM) -
Dr Saleh Aljadeeah shares compelling insights into his research on access to essential medicines in conflict-affected areas of Northern Syria.
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Press releases
Sanctions and the right to health in post-Assad Syria
Rethinking sanctions to punish regimes and protect people -
Press releases
ITM and University of the Western Cape join forces to improve medicine and vaccine safety in South Africa
Advancing public health innovation through EU-South Africa partnerships -
Interview with Raffaella Ravinetto, Professor of Pharmaceutical Public Health and Head of the Department of Public Health
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The Institute of Tropical Medicine and Belgium, along with their partners, take a leading role in shaping the path toward equitable access to health.
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Opinion pieces
The hidden crisis of children without access to pain therapy
Opinion piece by Raffaella Ravinetto, Aaron Nshindi Tshilengi and Anselme Mubeneshayi Kananga in MO* Magazine -
Opinion piece in De Morgen
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Articles
ITM PHARMA course 2023
A successful continued collaboration with the University of the Western Cape! -
If a war breaks out, what happens to the organisational system of drug supply? We sat down with ITM researcher Saleh Aljadeeah about his research project, for which he received King Baudouin Foundation’s Maurange Fund springboard grant.
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This opinion piece appeared on the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s BTI Blog on 14 February.
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Articles
No Internet – No Vaccine?
Our journalist-in-residence Samik Kharel dives into Nepal’s digital divide and its struggle to ensure vaccine equity. -
An exciting start towards promoting health equity
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Opinion pieces
The unfair distribution of vaccines, an embarrassing déjà vu
ITM Director Marc-Alain Widdowson's opinion piece appeared in the Belgian news paper De Standaard. -
How ITM and QUAMED contribute to the goal of universal access to safe medicines
