High medicine prices increase the cost of treatment. For example, treatment of an adult respiratory infection with a 7-day course of treatment with ciprofloxacin would cost the lowest-paid government worker over a day’s wage in most countries. Costs escalate when originator brands are used: the same treatment would cost the lowest-paid unskilled government worker over 10 days’ wages in the majority of the countries studied; in Armenia and Kenya, over a month’s salary would be needed to purchase this treatment. Additional problems of affordability face people living with chronic diseases due to the lifelong nature of treatment and the frequent.
