The first level of the NHS - health centers and health costs produce a considerable part of the total volume of health services in the nation and comprise the first and only point of contact with the health system for the major part of the Mozambican population. The present approach while delivering primary level health services in Mozambique has been very successful. (Expenditure Tracking and Service Delivery Survey: The Basic Concept) iv) Profitability: Prices of medicines often has no relation to costs, as included in the cost of research and development -- R&D and production, are added a portion of the mixture of marketing costs, profit margins, subsidies, tariffs, and tax requirements that vary across nations. The outcome is great price variations both between and within the nations. Since the patent for lamivudine/zidovudine taken on 1996 is valid for 20 years and low cost generic copies cannot be sold prior to 2016, the company's operating profit was estimated to remain U.S.$245m. (Dare to Lead: public health and company wealth) Module 16 i) Financial Gains: The patented drug Combivir for AIDS has been on the market since October 1997. Worldwide sales and anticipated operating profit on the medicine from that date went up U.S.$1.5bn. In case of the industry's claim that it costs U.S.$500m for a drug to be marketed appropriately, then this figure has since been recovered. In case of the poor nations who do not stand to gain from any preferential pricing scheme, the total result of enhanced patent protection under TRIPS is heavy profitability for the company at their expense. (Dare to Lead: public health and company wealth Oxfam Briefing paper on GlaxoSmithKline) ii) Economic benefits: Selling medical supplies in Mozambique will result in improved healthcare as the country is affected by several diseases like bubonic plague, cholera, dengue fever, hepatitis A, malaria and meningitis. Mozambique is among the successful economies of Africa and making good economic progress. As the economy is agrarian, industrial development has been slow because of the civil war...

The country has considerable mineral resources in spite of restricted exploitation (Mozambique Overview) iii) Social Costs: There will be a traditional change in the manner in which the rural population accepts the medicines as they largely reside in rural areas following a traditional way of living. About four out of five inhabitants of Mozambique rely on land for a living. Hard work envelopes life in the rural areas and women perform most of it and the majority of the Mozambican peasants are women. (Mozambique - people and society)
References

About Our Work: Antiretroviral Therapy. Retrieved at http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/pa_art.htm. Accessed 23 September, 2005

Dare to Lead: public health and company wealth. Oxfam Briefing paper on GlaxoSmithKline.

Retrieved at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/health/dare_to_lead.htm. Accessed 23 September, 2005

Expenditure Tracking and Service Delivery Survey: The Health Sector in Mozambique. Survey Information and Status Report. August, 2002. Retrieved at http://www.worldbank.org/research/projects/publicspending/tools/Mozambique%20PETS/mozambique.ETSDS.lindelow.statusreport.sep4.2002.pdf. Accessed 23 September, 2005

GAP- Antiretoviral Therapy. Retrieved at http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/docs/program_areas/About%20Our%20Work_ART.01.05.pdf. Accessed 23 September, 2005

Global AIDS Program: About our Work. Retrieved at http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/docs/program_areas/About%20Our%20Work_Palliative%20Care.01.05.pdf. Accessed 23 September, 2005

Mozambique Overview. Retrieved at http://www.mbendi.co.za/land/af/mz/p0005.htm. Accessed 23 September, 2005

Mozambique - people and society. Retrieved at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/world/mozambique/mozpeop.htm. Accessed 23 September, 2005

SA Aids Drugs Company Set for Africa Sales. August 31, 2005. Retrieved at http://allafrica.com/stories/200509070473.html. Accessed 23 September, 2005