E-DRUG: New publication alert - Consumers access to information
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Hi E-druggers
I would like to share a recent open access review out now in the Journal of Medicine Access. It's entitled:
Consumers' access to information about medicine prices and availability as an enabler of last mile medicine access: A scoping review
You can access it here:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/27550834221098598
Information about where medicines are in stock and how much they cost facilitates consumers' timely access to affordable medicines by enabling price comparisons and the identification of stockists.
Our aims in writing this paper were to:
(1) Review how consumer access to price and availability information is engaged within the Medicine Access discourse and
(2) identify factors associated with the existence of interventions that provide consumers with medicine availability and price information. Twenty-six frameworks and models that conceptualise or define 'access to medicine' and 'pharmaceutical systems strengthening' were reviewed in order to get a sense of if and how 'consumers' access to information about prices and availability' were considered in those frameworks. We were a bit surprised to discover how little attention is paid to the idea that consumers need access to information about where things are in stock and how much those things cost at different places.
Interventions in Peru, Taiwan, the U.S. and Zimbabwe that provide consumers with information about where pharmacy products are available and how much they cost were also reviewed. Interventions from Europe or Oceania could not be readily found and we, the authors, would appreciate any pointers if such interventions exist in Europe and/or Oceania.
Ultimately, the paper calls for the inclusion of the idea of consumers' access to medicine availability and price information within Access to Medicine frameworks.
We also propose 8 factors that are ought to be aligned in order to provide consumers with medicine price & availability information on a national scale. We are inviting feedback (both comments and questions) on this paper.
Best regards
Dr. Dudzai D. Mureyi (her/she)
Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
dudzimurey@yahoo.com