Overview of Drug Availability and Influencing Factors in Several Low, Lower and Upper- Middle Countries: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Drugs are vital to saving and improving public health. However, medicines are often not available at the facility because stocks run out or in particular, pharmaceuticals are not available due to a shortage of supplies. Implementation of pharmacy services should ensure safe, quality, usable and affordable availability drug. A systematic review was conducted to identify related studies. Electronic databases used to identify relevant studies are, ScienceDirect, Plos, PubMed and Google Scholar. This study is limited to English and publications from 2007 to 2017. The electronic database search earned 33 articles while only six studies met the criteria for review. There is the relatively low availability of drugs in some developing countries and the average availability of generic drugs is better than Innovator Brand drugs, especially in the public sector. Most of the factors that may affect drug availability are related to government policies to improve drug access and lower prices so that national drug policy review in each country is required. Overall, the method used to measure the availability of drugs using a reference method used by WHO Health Action International. The availability of drugs in low, lower and upper middle countries still need to be improved by increasing drug access and enhancing prices by using appropriate government policies. The WHO HAI method is effectively used to measure the availability of drugs by using the core drug and supplementary drug references by the established reference.

Challenges to the Availability and Affordability of Essential Medicines in African Countries: A Scoping Review

“…33 The study found that price has the same impact on the availability of essential medicines in Africa as it did in Asian poor countries. 6 …”

“…This effect can be seen in Ethiopia and Malawi, where a lack of cooperation between government and non-governmental organizations in providing access to essential medicines has a significant impact on accessibility. 6 …”

“… 4 Making access to a better supply, more responsible drug use, and high-quality, cost-effective care should be the goal of drug selection. 6 To be available and affordable drugs should be used in a suitable, safe, cost-effective, secure, and accessible way. 7 …”

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“…No entanto, os altos preços dos medicamentos tornam os medicamentos inacessíveis para muitas pessoas (26) . A disponibilidade de medicamentos nos países em desenvolvimento ainda precisa ser melhorada, aumentando o acesso a medicamentos e controlando os preços, usando políticas governamentais apropriadas (27) . Por outro lado, investir em inovação e na produção de novos medicamentos sem que os mesmos sejam acessíveis é favorecer o comércio, o lucro desmedido e, em certas ocasiões, até extorsivo, em detrimento da saúde e dos princípios que regem o direito à vida com dignidade (28) .…”

Essential Medicines Research in India: Situation Analysis

“…The availability of drugs in low, lower and upper middle countries still need to be improved by increasing drug access and enhancing prices by using appropriate government policies. 34…”