Poor medicine adherence: A critical public health challenge

Mumbai: Abbott recently hosted its second Global a:care Congress to help find tangible solutions for the pressing global challenge of medicine non-adherence. The main aim of Congress is to educate healthcare professionals and empower them to help their patients to better stick with their treatments and build steps toward better health.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), if everyone who was prescribed medicines took them as intended, the impact on health would be far greater than any improvement in specific medical treatments. Nearly 50 per cent of people don’t take their medicines as prescribed, about one-third never fill their first prescription, and 31 per cent stop their medicine earlier than recommended. Thus, despite numerous medical advances, control over certain diseases has not improved and this is driven largely by non-adherence to treatments.

About 8 per cent of the total global health expenditure could be avoided with adherence to medicine. Abbott’s a:care initiative, integrating digital tools and behavioural science, takes a unique approach to improve adherence by empowering healthcare practitioners to support patients with small, manageable steps to help build better health habits.

Ambati Venu, Vice President, Pharmaceuticals, Abbott India, commented, “Led by behavioural science principles, we are aiming to reimagine adherence, so we can educate and empower clinicians, and help people take charge of their health.”

Dr Shashank Joshi, Endocrinologist, Diabetologist, Member, Maharashtra COVID-19 Task Force, shared, “Medication non-adherence places a huge burden on our healthcare system. Among people with diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia, up to 31 per cent of patients never fill their first prescription. Of those who do, only 50-70 per cent take their medication regularly. Addressing non-adherence through a patient-centred approach requires the involvement of all health system stakeholders. This can prevent or delay the onset of complications, reduce hospitalisation risks and decrease healthcare costs, especially across therapy areas including hypertension, diabetes, and congestive heart failure.”

Preceding the a:care Congress, Abbott also hosted an exclusive virtual media knowledge session under the theme ‘Cracking the code of adherence – global challenge, tangible solutions.’ This session was led by world-renowned experts, including Prof John Weinman, King’s College London, UK, Prof Rob Horne, University College London, UK, and other key speakers.

Prof Weinman said, “By involving local and global experts from medicine and behavioural science, it will provide key insights for clinicians in order to facilitate the ways in which adherence challenges can be understood and managed in clinical practice.”