At present, there is a shortage of 80% of reagents used in specialized tests such as thyroid hormones, prostate antigen or tumor markers for those who had cancer. The costs of routine prostate antigen testing to rule out prostate cancer in men aged 50 and above will increase from USD 1,182 to USD 5,902. Due to excessive costs, many Venezuelans would not go for preventative tests.

Ideally, every year Venezuelans need to have tests that costs between USD 1,182 and USD 2,939. The coagulation tests that must be performed for any patient undergoing surgery are not free in hospitals and in the private sector the minimum cost is USD 2,939. The union of bioanalysts stated that due to rising costs rigorous analysis required for identifying contagion of diseases in blood supplied for transfusions are neglected.

Analysis of samples of blood transfusions done in the last year reflected that the number of samples contaminated with HIV, Chagas, hepatitis or syphilis remains the same. The Municipal Bank of Blood of the Capital District, which is responsible for carrying out tests of blood samples coming from various hospitals has a limited supply of reagents. In these hospitals, they are making use of these reagents such that they are being used only for the important cases, in the intention that reagents will last longer.

El-nacional

Many people appeal to international donations, for which many NGOs have been mobilized, to exchange or purchase medicines on the black market as alternatives. The NGO “A Medicine for Venezuela” is one of those organizations that collects medicines to help patients trapped without treatment. The organization sends the medicines through local companies that must draw a series of obstacles at the end of which is SENIAT, the Venezuelan customs authority. It prohibits private transportation of medicines and food, in addition to prohibiting corruption in customs. Once the numerous barriers are overcome, the help network must be careful not to attract attention to large storage areas for pain medicines as a they may be accused of hoarding drugs or contraband. The Venezuelan NGO “Codevida” oversees the distribution on the ground by means of a telephone drugstore. The pharmacy went from receiving 300 calls a month in 2016 to 5,000 this year. Codevida gathers information on the most demanded medicines, including those needed for organ transplant operations, analgesics for terminals, drugs for multiple sclerosis, hepatitis. In the process, there is a base of 30 fixed volunteers who manage the donations, most of which are processed by the Facebook page or with contributions from laboratories and pharmacies.

The experts of the Venezuelan Society of Cardiology have coordinated a survey about the 43 main health centers of focused on the endowment to treat cardiovascular diseases. 75% of hospitals had no aspirin, an essential drug for the treatment of heart disease. Patients with heart attacks are being treated as they were 40 years ago, when the incidence of deaths for this reason reached 15%. The government has not released mortality figures since 2013. That makes it difficult to know the real dimensions of the crisis.

For the age group of 15 to 26 years, the orientation of the Ministry of Health is the vaccination schedule with three doses, with interval of zero, two and six months. People who take the first dose in this period, exceptionally, will have the two subsequent doses guaranteed in the SUS. Double dose vaccination against HPV in boys prevents diseases and helps immunize girls. The ministry points out that it receives vaccines and medicines with a maximum of six months of manufacturing and that, from the national stock, no lot has maturity for this year. The routine use of this vaccine in the target population, which is for boys in the age group of 11 to 13 years and girls of nine to 14 years, must be maintained with two doses, being applied with interval of six months between them.

The HPV vaccine Quadrivalent is safe, effective and is the main form of prevention against the appearance of cancer of the cervix, fourth largest cause of death among the women in Brazil. In men, it protects against cancers of the penis, oropharynx and anus. In addition, it prevents more than 98% of genital warts, stigmatizing disease and difficult to treat. Transplant recipients of solid organs, bone marrow or cancer patients from nine to 26 years of age are also part of the targeted population. The services that serve this population must offer the HPV vaccine in the work routine. As per the MOH, from the beginning of the vaccination, in 2014, until June of this year, 18 million doses were given to the female population of the whole country. In the age group of nine to 15 years, in the same period, 10.7 million girls were immunized with the first dose, which corresponds to 74.7% of the total Brazilian population in this age group. They received the complete two-dose vaccination schedule recommended by the Ministry of Health, 7.1 million girls, which corresponds to 47% of the target population. Regarding boys, from January to June of this year, 853,920 adolescents aged 12 to 13 years were vaccinated with the first dose of the HPV vaccine, which corresponds to 23.6% of the 3.61 million boys in this age group.

Noticias; Agencia

The main initiatives in the first half of the year to advance Philips’ strategy in Latin America include:

1. Technologies for hospitals and clinics- “Tasy”. Solution developed in Latin America that digitizes medical records and administrative processes within hospitals and clinics, continues its expansion at a global level with its deployment in Mexico, Europe and the Middle East. Recently the solution was adopted by the important network of clinics and hospitals in Mexico, the Christus Muguerza Health System. Tasy has allowed an increase of up to 50% in profitability and a 20% reduction in operational costs.
2. State-of-the-art medical equipment- “Azurion”. The innovative platform of guided therapy, was launched at a global level and is entering the Latin American market. The software allows to optimize the accomplishment of procedures minimally invasive, offering a new option of treatment for patients who cannot withstand an open surgery and while reducing the time of recovery. To meet the demand for this type of technology in Latin America, Philips also inaugurated, in the beginning of the year, a new medical equipment factory in Varginha where it produces: x-ray, magnetic resonance, tomography and ultrasound.

3. Initiatives that empower the medical community to improve health care – “Health Connection”. The initiative continued its trajectory in the region arriving from Mexico to Argentina. Through it, Philips seeks to unite key players in the medical sector to find innovative solutions to improve maternal and child health in the region.
4. Within this framework, Philips also unveiled “AMI (Mobile Mother and Child Care)” in Argentina, an initiative that will provide women with free obstetrical ultrasounds and educational talks about the importance and methods of breastfeeding.

Awareness of chronic diseases, non-communicable diseases now make up the largest proportion of the total burden of disease in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Illnesses such as sleep apnea are under-diagnosed so Philips seeks to raise public awareness about symptoms but also provide tools for accurate diagnosis and proper course of treatment. For example, the company is enabling home care through portable and connected solutions allowing people to follow their course of treatment out of the hospital.

Philips continues to introduce solutions in the region’s markets that enable people to live healthier. These include products such as home appliances (Viva and Duravita blenders, and Pasta Maker), mother and child care products (Philips Avent line), and improved oral health care via line of Sonicare toothbrushes.

Comunicados

HIV is covered in the AUGE plan. Sexually transmitted diseases have become a concern for health authorities not only because of the increase in HIV cases, but also because of Hepatitis A outbreaks these days in MR, Valparaíso, Antofagasta and Temuco, or increased cases of other diseases, such as gonorrhea. The new anti-HIV campaign that the government will launch in August – includes other sexually transmitted diseases. It will emphasize the use of condoms as the main method of prevention of contagion and the importance of conducting diagnostic tests. The campaign targets different at-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men, indigenous peoples and immigrants. In parallel, the HIV treatment protocol was updated to standardize the treatments – to reduce the prescribed medications from more than 400 combinations to no more than 13. The drugs that are now included in the protocol are the safest and generate less resistance. These changes will be enforceable once the correction to the latest AUGE decree, envisaged for 2018, comes into force and will guarantee therapy for all HIV patients. According to Isapres, the change will make spending on HIV treatment grow by 25% a year.

Economiaynegocios

While countries throughout the region have made efforts to expand healthcare coverage to include a greater percentage of their population, public health spending in Latin America averages only 3.7% of GDP versus an OECD average of 8.3%. The result is often a tradeoff between the accessibility and the depth and quality of care.

The range of public services and their utilization are typically limited to more catastrophic health needs. An in-hospital doctor consultation may require a full day in line, or be limited to only 10 minutes.

The 100 million Latin Americans who ascended to the middle class over the past decade generate larger disposable incomes and are increasingly dissatisfied with such care – they are willing to pay an out-of-pocket premium in order to achieve faster or higher quality care. The fiscal budget crunches resulting from the 2015-16 recession are only expected to further private expenditures as private care rises to fill in the gaps left by the public system.

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While most of it is structured best for subscribers who use it for propension analysis and to uncover new sales opportunities, there are any number of basic data points that can be helpful for all kinds of Latin American healthcare professionals. With them in mind, we’ve created what we expect to be the first in a series of infographics on Latin American hospitals and healthcare so that our fellow professionals have a quick and handy resource for reference.

Click below to download GHI’s Latin American hospitals infographic.

The North America region has the highest share in the market, with the United States being the major contributor. However, markets such as the Asia- Pacific are promising to exhibit the fastest growth in the forecast period. Factors such as a large patient base and increasing investments in healthcare sectors in countries like China and Japan are proving favorable for the market growth. Despite the increasing competition, the neurostimulation devices market will continue to be dominated by North America owing to factors such as continual support and interest of global investors thanks to the advances in technology and the government’s increased focus on improving patient safety and procedure efficiency by using neurostimulation devices.

The major players in the market include St Jude Medical, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Aleva Neurotherapeutics, Cogentix Medical, Depuy Synthes Companies, Dr. Langer Medical GMBH, EBS Technologies, Intrapace, Neurological Surgery PC, Neuronetics, Nevro, and the Magstim Company.

The Peruvian medical device and equipment market exhibited 13% growth from 2014 to 2016, going from 333 million units to 428 million units. The market value, meanwhile, remained stable at just over $435 million, indicative of the Peruvian sol’s depreciation and cost pressures being faced by manufacturers and distributors across the region.

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Go Further

While our report offers a strong handle on these growth within Peru, it won’t let you know equipment counts for specific hospitals in Peru so you can see which ones offer the best sales opportunities. For that, you need the deep granular detail available in our hospital database, which lets you see equipment counts for Peru’s hospitals, key contacts for purchase and much more. Contact us to subscribe to our database so you can get started today on uncovering new sales from the Peruvian hospital market.

Beyond that, we can also help with fresh data on LatAm medical equipment market share so you can see where you stand in comparison to your competitors or deliver some custom LatAm healthcare market research to further help you edge out the competition with crucial market intelligence.

The self- tests were first launched Rio de Janeiro, followed by Sao Paulo and Espírito Santo. By the end of the month they are expected to reach the whole territory. The “self-test”, approved by the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (Anvisa), allows the user to know if he is carrying the AIDS virus, which is very useful in a country of more than 200 million inhabitants where the people are often reluctant to go to diagnostic centers.

According to data from the Fiocruz public medical research foundation, approximately 20% of the 800,000 HIV-positive people in Mexico are unaware that they are HIV-positive. The sooner the virus is detected, the better it is treated. The problem is that many Brazilians do not get tested in the hospital, out of shame or fear of being victims of discrimination.

The “self-tests” are already commercialized in countries like United States, United Kingdom and France. Brazil offers free treatment to anyone diagnosed as HIV positive. The test was developed by a local company OrangeLife. The test works by collecting a drop of blood mixed with a reactive product to detect antibodies that signal exposure to HIV. With a price between 60-70 reais (USD18-21 dollars), the result is known in 20 minutes.

The manufacturers claim the test is 99.9% accurate and reliable, a rate that surpasses the detection capability of tests that use saliva and are marketed in the United States. According to the company OrangeLife, the tests are produced in a factory in Rio with a capacity to prepare 100,000 units per month. For all the stakeholders including pharmaceuticals, doctors, and the manufacturer, this test represents an important advance in the fight against HIV.