Coping with access barriers to non‐communicable disease medicines: qualitative patient interviews in eight counties in Kenya

BACKGROUND: There is rich literature on barriers to medicines access for the treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in high-income countries. Less is known about low- and middle-income countries, in particular the differences in coping with medicines access barrier by household wealth and disease. The aim of this study was to compare the coping mechanisms of patients with the lack of availability and affordability of cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes and asthma medicines in Kenya. METHODS: This qualitative study was part of a larger mixed methods evaluation study conducted in eight counties of Kenya from 2016 to 2019. Forty-nine patient interviews at study end line explored their NCD journey, perceptions of availability, stockouts and affordability of NCD medicines, their enrollment in health insurance, and their relationship with the private chemists. Transcribed interviews were coded using Nvivo software. A two-step thematic approach was used, first conducting a priority coding which was followed by coding emerging and divergent themes. RESULTS: Overall, we found that patients across all disease types and wealth level faced frequent medicine stock-outs at health facilities. In the absence of NCD medicines at health facilities, patients coped by purchasing medicines from local chemists, switching health facilities, requesting a different prescription, admitting oneself to an inpatient facility, establishing connections with local staff to receive notifications of medicine stock, stocking up on medicines, utilizing social capital to retrieve medicines from larger cities and obtaining funds from a network of friends and family. Categorizing by disease revealed patterns in coping choices that were based on the course of the disease, severity of the symptoms and the direct and indirect costs incurred as a result of stockouts of NCD medicines. Categorizing by wealth highlight differences in households’ capacity to cope with the unavailability and unaffordability of NCD medicines. CONCLUSIONS: The type of coping strategies to access barriers differ by NCD and wealth group. Although Kenya has made important strides to address NCD medicines access challenges, prioritizing enrollment of low wealth households in county health insurance programs and ensuring continuous availability of essential NCD medicines at public health facilities close to the patient homes could improve access.