Bayked Ewunetie Mekashaw
Department of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS), Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
Front Public Health. 2025 Apr 25;13:1533710. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1533710. eCollection 2025.
Health policy involves decisions at national, state, and local levels to achieve healthcare goals, with medicine policy being a critical component that requires integration and potential reform. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends periodic monitoring and evaluation of the National Medicine Policy (NMP) under the National Health Policy (NHP), ideally every 2 to 3 years or comprehensively every 4 to 5 years.
This perspective aims to urge the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Ethiopia to update its national health and medicine policies to address emerging health issues, advancements in medical treatment, and global health agendas. It also aims to initiate a name change for Ethiopia's "NDP" to "NMP" to focus on medicines for therapeutic purposes while avoiding confusion with the term "drug."
A descriptive critical evidence synthesis was used to identify indicators and situations for monitoring, evaluating, and updating national health and medicine policies. The author presented published evidence to support the perspective that Ethiopia's national health and medicine policies need to be updated.
Ethiopia's national health and medicine policies have remained unchanged for over three decades, despite their critical role in guiding healthcare decision-making and reflecting political commitment to advancing healthcare goals through regular monitoring and evaluation. This underscores an urgent need to update these policies and periodically monitor and evaluate them at prescribed intervals: every 2 to 3 years for minor changes or every 4 to 5 years comprehensively. Additionally, the title "National Drug Policy (NDP)" should be changed to "NMP" to better reflect its focus on safe, effective, and approved medicines for healthcare, while avoiding negative associations with the general term "drugs".
Given the dynamic nature of the health and pharmaceutical sectors, it is crucial for Ethiopia to urgently update the NHP and NMP and change the NDP title to "NMP" to eliminate ambiguity, emphasize approved medicines, and align with global best practices.
卫生政策涉及国家、州和地方各级为实现医疗保健目标而做出的决策，药品政策是其中的关键组成部分，需要整合并可能进行改革。世界卫生组织（WHO）建议根据国家卫生政策（NHP）定期监测和评估国家药品政策（NMP），理想情况下每2至3年进行一次，或每4至5年进行一次全面评估。
本观点旨在敦促埃塞俄比亚卫生部更新其国家卫生和药品政策，以应对新出现的健康问题、医学治疗进展和全球卫生议程。它还旨在将埃塞俄比亚的“国家药物政策（NDP）”更名为“国家药品政策（NMP）”，以专注于用于治疗目的的药品，同时避免与“药物”一词产生混淆。
采用描述性关键证据综合法来确定监测、评估和更新国家卫生和药品政策的指标及情况。作者展示了已发表的证据来支持埃塞俄比亚国家卫生和药品政策需要更新这一观点。
埃塞俄比亚的国家卫生和药品政策在过去三十多年里一直未变，尽管它们在指导医疗保健决策以及通过定期监测和评估体现推进医疗保健目标的政治承诺方面发挥着关键作用。这凸显了迫切需要更新这些政策，并按照规定的间隔定期进行监测和评估：每2至3年进行小幅更新，或每4至5年进行全面更新。此外，“国家药物政策（NDP）”的名称应改为“国家药品政策（NMP）”，以更好地反映其对用于医疗保健的安全、有效和获批药品的关注，同时避免与“药物”这一通用术语产生负面关联。
鉴于卫生和制药行业的动态性质，埃塞俄比亚迫切需要更新国家卫生政策（NHP）和国家药品政策（NMP），并将国家药物政策（NDP）的名称改为“国家药品政策（NMP）”，以消除歧义、强调获批药品并与全球最佳实践保持一致。
