By Durva Kamdar
Summary
If the World Health Organisation really wants to solve the issue of prescription drug abuse, they need to do more than pander to the rich and need to take on a progressive mindset to adequately address issues that prescription drug addicts in rural areas face.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) sprung into the final leg of its debate on prescription drug use in rural areas, finally understanding the necessity and urgency of the issue at hand. With a plethora of solutions, all highly contentious, proposed over the past few days of debate, any consensus regarding the nuanced issue of prescription drug abuse seemed unlikely.
Even so, efforts were taken to recognise the severity of the situation in many rural areas. Prescription drug abuse is linked to addiction. Member States recognised that it was akin to an illness, one that seemed daunting and inescapable to addicts. Around 5.76% of all Americans above the age of 12 are currently addicted to prescription drugs, showing the pervasive nature of abuse taking place. This is concerning primarily due to the devastating impacts it can have on the mental and physical health of addicts. Opioids, for example, are widely-used prescription drugs whose use can result in side effects like hypoxia and Hepatitis C. Member States also noted that people living in rural areas were particularly susceptible to the abuse of prescription drugs due to high levels of unemployment, cultural disconnection, and low levels of educational attainment.
People living in rural areas were particularly susceptible to the abuse of prescription drugs due to high levels of unemployment, cultural disconnection, and low levels of educational attainment.
The fundamental issue with the WHO debate, though, seemed to be the utter and complete lack of progress working forward. While Member States adequately understood the issues, they seemed ill-equipped to address them through solutions.
The solution proposed by Antigua and Barbuda, Brunei, Argentina, and Austria, for instance, centred on prevention being better than cure. A cornerstone of this solution? Education in schools. The lack of progressive thought and care for those who were addicted was apparent as ideas of “educating people about drugs being bad” were thrown around in the debate preceding the resolution’s introduction. There was a simplistic characterisation of addicts as dumb, illiterate, and generally unaware of the simple happenings of the world that was pervasive throughout the debate. Saudi Arabia went on about using “schools” to educate the youth. Think about it - how many people in rural areas seriously do not know that taking too many prescription drugs is bad? Even in the rural parts of countries like the United States and India, there is widespread knowledge about the harms of prescription drugs.
There was a simplistic characterisation of addicts as dumb, illiterate, and generally unaware of the simple happenings of the world that was pervasive throughout the debate.
Furthermore, this focus on schoolwide education would actually neglect the reality of the situation. The primary outreach centres for education would be “schools” that are actually quite useless in this case. In rural areas, especially in less-developed countries, absenteeism is extremely common due to child labour, child marriages, and simple poverty. Children are forced to miss school and are barely allowed access to a basal level of education. This is especially so in the case of the pandemic wherein 37% of all students in rural India are not attending school at all. In such cases, would children even receive drug education? Clearly, the answer is no. Such a large focus on drug education in rural areas would only exacerbate income inequality between rural and urban areas, the rich and the poor, those who can afford to attend school and those who are forced to miss it. The WHO must think of measures that address the true nature of rural areas, instead of slapping on urban solutions and hoping for the best.
Empty schools in rural India
In response to this claim, in an interview, both Brunei and Antigua and Barbuda, key proponents of education as a solution, stated that addressing “socioeconomic factors was not within the scope of the WHO.” However, isn’t proposing solutions that consider socioeconomic factors definitively within the scope of the WHO?
Furthermore, the draft resolution proposed by Argentina, Austria, Brunei, Antigua and Barbuda had great incentives for pharmaceutical companies. It incentivized these companies to set up shop, so to speak, in less developed countries. This resolution benefited only one stakeholder - Big Pharma, allowing pharmaceutical companies to continue to exploit less developed countries in order to maximise profit. When questioned, Brunei revealed in an exclusive interview with Alternet, that “it will support both pharmaceutical companies and local organisations.” This blatantly ignored that the interests of both are mutually exclusive. Benefitting large corporations means that innocent, poor citizens are getting passed over for access to good healthcare. Big Pharma will not lower medicinal costs if they have cheaper production costs, they will just bear a higher profit margin. I question why these countries would cater to these capitalistic corporations that are causing the problem of prescription drug abuse in the first place.
This blatantly ignored that the interests of both are mutually exclusive. Benefitting large corporations means that innocent, poor citizens are getting passed over for access to good healthcare.
If the World Health Organisation really wants to solve the issue of prescription drug abuse, they need to do more than pander to the rich and need to take on a progressive mindset to adequately address issues that prescription drug addicts in rural areas face.
Bibliography:
Prescription drug abuse statistics. NCDAS. (2022, February 8). Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://drugabusestatistics.org/prescription-drug-abuse-statistics/#:~:text=52%20million%20or%2018.4%25%20of,18.9%20million%20people%20misused%20prescriptions.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019, October 3). National trends in hepatitis C infection by opioid use disorder status among pregnant women at delivery hospitalization - United States, 2000–2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6839a1.htm
Drug education survey. Resources for Addiction Treatment & Recovery. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://americanaddictioncenters.org/learn/drug-education-survey/
Sharma, K., Singh, D. K., & Mandhani-, A. (2021, September 7). 37% students in rural areas not studying at all as schools remain shut, survey finds. ThePrint. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://theprint.in/india/education/37-students-in-rural-areas-not-studying-at-all-as-schools-remain-shut-survey-finds/729203/
Guardian News and Media. (2020, January 30). Indian state school has two teachers, a cook and one pupil. The Guardian. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/indian-state-school-has-two-teachers-a-cook-and-one-pupil
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