Masresha Rediet, Habte Fikreselam, Senbeta Mamo Feyissa, Baye Assefa Mulu, Kassaw Chalelgn, Beyene Melak Gedamu
School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 28;14(1):31357. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-82919-1.
Access to health care is a fundamental human right. However, nearly one-third of the global population have no access to it. This magnitude is even much worse in low- and middle-income countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 12 to June 5, 2024 to determine availability, price and affordability of essential medicines for managing cardiovascular diseases using WHO/HAI methodology in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Data on the availability and price of the lowest priced generic medicines were collected from five public, ten private and eight other sectors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The availability was assessed as the percentage of health facilities that stocked the listed medicines. The prices of these medicines were evaluated across all sectors. Price variations were calculated to identify differences among these settings. Additionally, medicine prices were compared against the management sciences for health (MSH) International Reference Prices to calculate the Median Price Ratio (MPR), providing a standardized measure of price affordability and accessibility. The data was analyzed using WHO/HAI work book Excel sheet V 15. The overall availability of generic drugs in all sectors was found to be 34.52%. The availability was 33.73, 40.58, 29.8 and 33.99% in Public, Private, Kenema and Red Cross pharmacies, respectively. The median price ratios for the medications used to treat cardiovascular disease were 3.49, 7.24, 2.84 and 5.2 at Public, Private, Kenema, and Red Cross Pharmacies, respectively. Majority of the medicines were found to be unaffordable, costing up to 352.44 days' wage of the lowest paid government employee to cover a one-month standard treatment. In conclusion, the study underscores significant challenges in the availability, pricing, and affordability of LPG medications to treat CVDs in Ethiopia.
获得医疗保健是一项基本人权。然而，全球近三分之一的人口无法获得医疗保健。在低收入和中等收入国家，这一情况更为严重。2024年4月12日至6月5日，在埃塞俄比亚亚的斯亚贝巴开展了一项横断面研究，采用世界卫生组织/卫生行动干预与费用追踪（WHO/HAI）方法，以确定用于治疗心血管疾病的基本药物的可获得性、价格和可负担性。从埃塞俄比亚亚的斯亚贝巴的5家公立、10家私立及8家其他机构收集了最低价格仿制药的可获得性和价格数据。可获得性通过储存所列药品的医疗机构的百分比来评估。对所有机构的这些药品价格进行了评估。计算价格差异以确定这些机构之间的差异。此外，将药品价格与健康管理科学（MSH）国际参考价格进行比较，以计算中位数价格比（MPR），从而提供价格可负担性和可及性的标准化衡量指标。使用WHO/HAI工作簿Excel工作表V 15对数据进行了分析。所有机构中仿制药的总体可获得性为34.52%。在公立、私立、凯内马药房和红十字会药房的可获得性分别为33.73%、40.58%、29.8%和33.99%。用于治疗心血管疾病的药物在公立、私立、凯内马和红十字会药房的中位数价格比分别为3.49、7.24、2.84和5.2。发现大多数药品难以负担，支付一个月标准治疗费用高达最低工资政府雇员352.44天的工资。总之，该研究强调了埃塞俄比亚治疗心血管疾病的低价仿制药在可获得性、定价和可负担性方面面临的重大挑战。
