Abstract
Highlights:
- Despite clinical evidence of its effectiveness in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, uptake of fixed dose combination therapy (FDCs) for CVD has been poor.
- A symposium was held bringing together stakeholders on this issue, including from academia, government and NGOs.
- The conclusion made was that what is now needed to improve implementation of FDCs is country-specific health systems analyses to design appropriate implementation strategies.
- Implementation strategies must look beyond listing on the WHO Essential Medicines List to consider approaches to improving FDC availability, accessibility, affordability, and adherence.
- Strategies might include incorporation of FDCs into the WHO HEARTS technical package, simplified treatment and monitoring algorithms, decentralisation of medicine dispensing and task-sharing for treatment management.