TY - JOUR
T1 - Variation in the availability and cost of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases in Uganda
T2 - A descriptive time series analysis
AU - Armstrong-Hough, Mari
AU - Sharma, Srish
AU - Kishore, Sandeep P.
AU - Akiteng, Ann R.
AU - Schwartz, Jeremy I.
N1 - Funding Information:
The MacMillan Center of Yale University and the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute provided funding to support travel for JIS through the Hecht-Albert Pilot Innovation Award for Junior Faculty. Knoema provided funding for data collection and the development of the data collection and management tool. The funders played no further role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 Armstrong-Hough et al.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Background: Availability of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is poor in lowand middle-income countries. Availability and cost are conventionally assessed using cross-sectional data. However, these characteristics may vary over time. Methods: We carried out a prospective, descriptive analysis of the availability and cost of essential medicines in 23 Ugandan health facilities over a five-week period. We surveyed facility pharmacies in-person up to five times, recording availability and cost of 19 essential medicines for NCDs and four essential medicines for communicable diseases. Results: Availability of medicines varied substantially over time, especially among public facilities. Among private-for-profit facilities, the cost of the same medicine varied from week to week. Private-not-for-profit facilities experienced less dramatic fluctuations in price. Conclusions: We conclude that there is a need for standardized, continuous monitoring to better characterize the availability and cost of essential medicines, understand demand for these medicines, and reduce uncertainty for patients.
AB - Background: Availability of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is poor in lowand middle-income countries. Availability and cost are conventionally assessed using cross-sectional data. However, these characteristics may vary over time. Methods: We carried out a prospective, descriptive analysis of the availability and cost of essential medicines in 23 Ugandan health facilities over a five-week period. We surveyed facility pharmacies in-person up to five times, recording availability and cost of 19 essential medicines for NCDs and four essential medicines for communicable diseases. Results: Availability of medicines varied substantially over time, especially among public facilities. Among private-for-profit facilities, the cost of the same medicine varied from week to week. Private-not-for-profit facilities experienced less dramatic fluctuations in price. Conclusions: We conclude that there is a need for standardized, continuous monitoring to better characterize the availability and cost of essential medicines, understand demand for these medicines, and reduce uncertainty for patients.
KW - Communicable Diseases/drug therapy
KW - Drug Costs/trends
KW - Drugs, Essential/economics
KW - Health Facilities/economics
KW - Health Services Accessibility/economics
KW - Humans
KW - Noncommunicable Diseases/drug therapy
KW - Private Sector/economics
KW - Prospective Studies
KW - Public Sector/economics
KW - Surveys and Questionnaires
KW - Time Factors
KW - Uganda
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0241555
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0241555
M3 - Article
C2 - 33362249
AN - SCOPUS:85099038756
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 12
M1 - e0241555
ER -