Access to medicines in Brazil based on monetary and non-monetary acquisition data obtained from the 2008/2009 Household Budget Survey

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To investigate the access to medicines by Brazilian families by monetary and non-monetary acquisition data.METHODS This is a cross-sectional study based on data obtained from the 2008/2009 Brazilian Household Budget Survey. The units of assessment were households that participated in the survey and the data on the acquisition of medicines over the 30 days prior to the interviews. The medicines were classified according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system.RESULTS Acquisition of medicines was reported by 82.9% of Brazilian households, with 2.38 medicines/household, and 0.72 medicine/individual. In the South and Southeast regions, the average acquisition was slightly greater than the national average (2.53 and 2.49, respectively). In 22.3% of Brazilian households, it was reported that a medicine was not acquired due to lack of financial resources, mainly in the North and Northeastern regions, and in rural areas. Approximately 15.0% of medicines were obtained with no costs, 90.1% of them by the Brazilian Unified Health System. The medicines most acquired were those acting on the nervous system (28.8% of Brazilian households), on the cardiovascular system (15.7%), on the digestive tract and metabolism (14.3%), and on the respiratory system (12.1%). Overall, the quantity of medicines acquired was greater in higher socioeconomic classes of the population, with the exception of antiparasitic products, most likely because of the precarious sanitary conditions faced by less privileged social classes.CONCLUSIONS The acquisition of medicines is a common practice in Brazil, being reported by over 80.0% of the Brazilian households in 2008/2009. Although the data obtained from the Brazilian Household Budget Survey have some limitations, the information obtained in this study can help health authorities to design national and regional policies to guarantee access to these products while promoting their rational use.

Consumption and Lack of Access to Medicines and Associated Factors in the Brazilian Amazon: A Cross-Sectional Study, 2019

“…Our study found an increased lack of access to treatments when compared to a population-based study conducted in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil with 2,988 individuals in 2003, which found that 5% of the participants who used medicines in the 15 days prior to the interview could not obtain appropriate treatment ( Bertoldi et al., 2009 ). Previous data from population-based studies reinforce the differences in the access to treatments between Brazilian regions, particularly in the North and Northeast regions, the least developed of the country ( Paniz et al., 2008 ; Goes et al., 2016 ; Alvares et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Lack of financial resources was the most reported reason for not accessing treatments in our study. A population-based study conducted in Brazil in 2009 found similar results: in 22% of the households, medicines were not acquired due to lack of financial resources, which was higher in the North and Northeast regions ( Goes et al., 2016 ). The high prices of medicines can increase catastrophic expenditures for patients, especially in low- and middle-income countries ( Ahmadiani and Nikfar, 2016 ).…”

Avaliação das intoxicações exógenas no Distrito Federal no período de 2009 a 2013

“…Dipyrone was another analgesic involved in the intoxications, which ingestion was fatal to a child bellow 4 years old. Analgesics were indeed the main group of medicines acquired by Brazilian families in 2008/2009 Brazilian Household Survey, obtained by 22.9% of the all households and by 25.3% of households with children up to 5 years old (GOES et al, 2016). As discussed previously, a safe storage of medicines in the household can prevent many cases of medicine intoxication in this subpopulation.…”