Nordic Life Science 1
26 “IN THE LONGER TERM, OF COURSE, THERE IS A RIS
K THAT THE SUPPLY OF MEDICINES COULD BE AFFECTED IN OUR COUNTRY TOO, FOR EXAMPLE IF THE WAR LEADS TO FUEL SHORTAGES AND RATIONING, BUT AT PRESENT OUR CHALLENGES ARE LARGELY NON-EXISTENT COMPARED TO THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE ITSELF.” BENGT MAT TSON ere in Sweden, the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) and the Civil Contingencies Agency are responsible for coordinating Swedish medical aid shipments. If you would like to read more about pharmaceutical aid donations to Ukraine, more information is available at lif.se. guidelines and traditions often differ between countries. Here, the Swedish healthcare system faces challenges in terms of how to give patients access to the drugs they need or equivalent treatments. Challenges also arise from the fact that both tuberculosis and polio are found in Ukraine and vaccination rates are low. The same is true for measles and COVID19. Compared with the difficulties people who remain in Ukraine are facing, however, this is nothing. The Ukrainian refugees now arriving in Sweden naturally also have medical needs. In some cases, the drugs that they take are not available here, while treatment There are no grounds for concern regarding Sweden’s supply of pharmaceuticals. It is robust and is not directly affected by the war in Ukraine. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have any significant exports of pharmaceuticals to Sweden or the rest of Europe. In the longer term, of course, there is a risk that the supply of medicines could be affected in our country too, for example if the war leads to fuel shortages and rationing, but at present our challenges are largely nonexistent compared to the situation in Ukraine itself. In order to build increased resilience and secure better preparedness for a coming crisis there are several ongoing initiatives, many of them triggered by the pandemic. Examples of this are the governmental commissions to the Swedish MPA to identify manufacturing capacity in Sweden and the Nordic region, and to build an ITinfrastructure to have better control of existing stocks of pharmaceuticals in Sweden and the need for those medicines in healthcare. I would also like to highlight a few more of the targets of SDG 16. These illustrate how much is being destroyed and rendered impossible in the shadow of war. Reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere (16.1), End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children (16.2), Promote the rule of law and ensure equal access to justice for all (16.3), Significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime (16.4), and Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms (16.10). NLS Poland refugees from Ukraine wait to register for cash assistance in Warsaw. READ MORE Throughout 2022 Bengt Mattson is each month presenting, on lif.se, one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry. PHOTO/COPYRIGHT UNHCR/MACIEJ MOSKWA