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Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini
BACKGROUND: Limited availability of medicines in public facilities and unaffordable prices in the private sector act as barriers to medicines’ access. Patients in Eswatini may be forced to buy medicine from the private sector resulting from chronic medicines’ shortages in public health facilities. T...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
AOSIS
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8517741/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34636605 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2986 |
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author | Shambira, Garikai Suleman, Fatima |
author_facet | Shambira, Garikai Suleman, Fatima |
author_sort | Shambira, Garikai |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Limited availability of medicines in public facilities and unaffordable prices in the private sector act as barriers to medicines’ access. Patients in Eswatini may be forced to buy medicine from the private sector resulting from chronic medicines’ shortages in public health facilities. The extent to which they can afford to do so is unknown. AIM: To determine the availability, price and affordability of medicines in the retail pharmacies in Eswatini, and to compare the results regionally and internationally. SETTING: Retail pharmacy sector in the four administrative regions of Eswatini. METHODS: Data on availability, price and affordability to patients for 50 medicines in the originator brand (OB) and the lowest priced generic (LPG) equivalent, were collated using the standardised World Health Organization/Health Action International methodology from 32 retail pharmacies in the four regions of Eswatini. Prices were then compared with selected countries. RESULTS: The overall mean availability of all medicines in selected retail pharmacies was 38.5%; standard deviation [s.d.] = 20.4% for OBs and 80.9%; s.d. = 19.0% for LPGs. The overall median price ratio (MPR) in the surveyed pharmacies was 18.61 for the OBs and 4.67 for LPGs. Most standard treatments with LPGs cost less than a day’s wages whilst for OBs cost more than a day’s wages. The differences between Eswatini and South African prices were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Drug pricing policies and price monitoring tools are needed for the whole pharmaceutical chain in Eswatini to monitor availability, affordability and accessibility of medicines to the general populace. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8517741 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | AOSIS |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85177412021-10-21 Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini Shambira, Garikai Suleman, Fatima Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med Original Research BACKGROUND: Limited availability of medicines in public facilities and unaffordable prices in the private sector act as barriers to medicines’ access. Patients in Eswatini may be forced to buy medicine from the private sector resulting from chronic medicines’ shortages in public health facilities. The extent to which they can afford to do so is unknown. AIM: To determine the availability, price and affordability of medicines in the retail pharmacies in Eswatini, and to compare the results regionally and internationally. SETTING: Retail pharmacy sector in the four administrative regions of Eswatini. METHODS: Data on availability, price and affordability to patients for 50 medicines in the originator brand (OB) and the lowest priced generic (LPG) equivalent, were collated using the standardised World Health Organization/Health Action International methodology from 32 retail pharmacies in the four regions of Eswatini. Prices were then compared with selected countries. RESULTS: The overall mean availability of all medicines in selected retail pharmacies was 38.5%; standard deviation [s.d.] = 20.4% for OBs and 80.9%; s.d. = 19.0% for LPGs. The overall median price ratio (MPR) in the surveyed pharmacies was 18.61 for the OBs and 4.67 for LPGs. Most standard treatments with LPGs cost less than a day’s wages whilst for OBs cost more than a day’s wages. The differences between Eswatini and South African prices were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Drug pricing policies and price monitoring tools are needed for the whole pharmaceutical chain in Eswatini to monitor availability, affordability and accessibility of medicines to the general populace. AOSIS 2021-09-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8517741/ /pubmed/34636605 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2986 Text en © 2021. The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. |
spellingShingle | Original Research Shambira, Garikai Suleman, Fatima Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini |
title | Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini |
title_full | Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini |
title_fullStr | Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini |
title_full_unstemmed | Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini |
title_short | Retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in Eswatini |
title_sort | retail pharmacy prescription medicines’ availability, prices and affordability in eswatini |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8517741/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34636605 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2986 |
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