During the 2024–2025 biennium, PAHO made a decisive contribution to improving access to medicines in Paraguay through the modernization of the regulatory framework for price setting. Substantial reductions were recorded in the prices of numerous medicines for the public system during 2024–2025 in comparison with previous periods, and an institutional mechanism for continuous monitoring of the pharmaceutical market was consolidated.

Through specialized technical cooperation, the country replaced a scheme that had been in place since 1991 with a model based on international and national reference prices, accompanied by the establishment of a multisectoral medicines price observatory. PAHO contributed comparative methodologies, regulatory impact analyses, and international good practices that strengthened the technical capacity of national authorities to make transparent and sustainable decisions.  

These product- and policy-level results directly contribute to improving financial protection, reducing barriers to access, and strengthening health system sustainability, thereby creating more favorable conditions for universal access to safe, effective, and affordable health technologies.

Photo caption: Medicines management at a pharmacy in the municipality of Coronel Oviedo, Caaguazú Department

Credit: PAHO/Mirtha Rodriguez.