Helfer Ana Paula, Camargo Aline Lins, Tavares Noemia Urruth Leão, Kanavos Panos, Bertoldi Andréa Dâmaso
Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil.
Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2012 Mar;31(3):225-32. doi: 10.1590/s1020-49892012000300007.
To assess the affordability by workers of drugs used for treatment of chronic diseases, as well as the availability of the reference, similar, or generic forms of these drugs in the public health care system.
We employed the methodology recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) for the standardized collection of information on selling prices in the private sector and availability in the public health care system of drugs in six cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected from November 2008 to January 2009. Affordability was estimated as the number of salary days required for a worker receiving the national minimum wage to buy, in a private pharmacy, the amount of medication required for one month of treatment. Availability was assessed by the presence of these drugs in public health care system facilities.
Twenty-two public facilities and 30 private pharmacies were studied. Of 21 drugs used for the treatment of seven chronic disorders, only nine were available free of charge in the six cities. Mean availability ranged from 83.3% (São Leopoldo) to 97.6% (Caxias do Sul). Affordability ranged from 0.4 to 10.5 salary days for reference drugs, 0.2 to 8.4 salary days for similar drugs, and 0.3 to 3.8 salary days for generic drugs.
The overall availability of the drugs surveyed was higher than the 80% recommended by WHO. However, some treatments were not available, or had limited availability in the public system. Concerning affordability, the number of salary days required to buy these drugs may affect the continuation of drug treatments for chronic diseases.
评估慢性病治疗药物对工人的可负担性，以及这些药物的参比制剂、相似制剂或通用名制剂在公共卫生保健系统中的可及性。
我们采用了世界卫生组织（WHO）和国际卫生行动组织（HAI）推荐的方法，对巴西南里奥格兰德州六个城市的私营部门药品销售价格及公共卫生保健系统中药物的可及性进行标准化信息收集。数据收集时间为2008年11月至2009年1月。可负担性通过接受国家最低工资的工人在私人药房购买一个月治疗所需药量所需的工资天数来估算。可及性通过这些药物在公共卫生保健系统设施中的存在情况进行评估。
研究了22家公共机构和30家私人药房。在用于治疗七种慢性病的21种药物中，六个城市只有九种可免费获得。平均可及性范围从83.3%（圣莱奥波尔多）到97.6%（南卡希亚斯）。参比制剂的可负担性范围为0.4至10.5个工资天，相似制剂为0.2至8.4个工资天，通用名制剂为0.3至3.8个工资天。
所调查药物的总体可及性高于WHO推荐的80%。然而，一些治疗方法在公共系统中不可用或可及性有限。关于可负担性方面，购买这些药物所需的工资天数可能会影响慢性病药物治疗的持续进行。
