E-DRUG: New studies released on access to medicines in Nigeria and Uganda
------------------------------------------
Dear E-druggers,
This message is to inform you of the publication of the results of the surveys on access to and rational use of medicines at facility and household level in Nigeria and Uganda.
These tools, developed by WHO in collaboration with the Harvard Medical School, aim to assess whether pharmaceutical policies are achieving their intended objectives.
The facility survey provides information on prices, availability and use of medicines in public and private health facilities. For example, in Nigeria private pharmacies were found to have higher availability of medicines than public facilities (93% of key medicines against 67%). On the other hand, medicines in public facilities were more likely to be adequately labelled than medicines in private pharmacies.
The recently developed household survey covers the same issues from the point of view of the patients. It is therefore a unique instrument to gather information on household practices, as well as beliefs and other factors that influence the decision to seek professional advice or to take medicines. The household survey also allows comparing access to medicines between different income groups. For example, in Uganda, 80% of households from the highest income group had some medicines at home, while the value for the lowest income group was of only 30%.
To download an electronic copy of the survey reports, please use the following link:
Access to and use of medicines at facility level in Nigeria. Federal Ministry of Health
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s16886e/s16886e.pdf
Access to and use of medicines at household level in Nigeria. Federal Ministry of Health
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s16887e/s16887e.pdf
Access to and use of medicines at facility level in Uganda. Ministry of Health
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s16377e/s16377e.pdf
Access to and use of medicines at household level in Uganda. Ministry of Health
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s16374e/s16374e.pdf
These surveys have been conducted by the national Ministries of Health with WHO assistance as part of our work to support assessment and monitoring of the pharmaceutical situation at country level. Another four African countries (Gambia, Ghana, Kenya and Sao Tomé and Principe) have conducted similar surveys and are about to release their reports, while the results of the 2007 Global Survey on Pharmaceutical Structures and Processes have been recently released by WHO in the form of a fact book. For more information and latest updates on issues related to assessment and monitoring of the pharmaceutical situation, please visit: http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/coordination/coordination_assessment/en/index.html
Thank you for your attention,
Dr Gilles Forte, Coordinator, Medicine Programme Coordination, WHO
Mr Enrico Cinnella, Officer, Medicine Programme Coordination, WHO
cinnellae@who.int