Abstract
Access to safe, effective and affordable medicines of good quality is included into the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Furthermore, WHO has developed a Global Action Plan with the aim to raise access to essential medicines against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to 80%, and to improve their affordability. In order to contribute to the monitoring of progress towards these goals, the present study investigated the availability and affordability of seven antibiotics and six medicines against non-communicable diseases in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the west of the Republic of Cameroon. Data on availability and prices of these medicines were collected in 60 different sites (34 in the DR Congo, 26 in Cameroon), including government health facilities, church health facilities, private pharmacies and informal vendors, as part of a study on medicine quality. The data were analyzed using a standardized procedure developed by WHO and Health Action International (HAI). Average availability of the investigated antibiotics ranged from 62% to 98% in the different types of facilities in both countries, including the informal vendors. Average availability for medicines against NCDs in the different types of facilities showed a higher variation in both countries, ranging from 11% up to 87%. The average availability of medicines against NCDs in government health facilities was only 33% in Cameroon, and as low as 11% in the DR Congo. In contrast, availability of medicines against NCDs in church health facilities in Cameroon was 70%, not far from the 80% availability goal set by WHO. Medicine prices were clearly higher in Cameroon than in the DR Congo, with median price ratios to an international reference price of 5.69 and 2.17, respectively (p < 0.001). In relation to the daily minimum wages in both countries, treatment courses with five of the seven investigated antibiotics could be considered as affordable, while in each country only one out of the five investigated medicines against NCDs could be considered as affordable. Especially generic medicines provided by government and church health facilities showed reasonable affordability in most cases, while originator medicines offered by private pharmacies were clearly unaffordable to a major part of the population. Despite some encouraging findings on the availability of antibiotics in both countries, the availability and affordability of medicines against NCDs urgently requires further improvements.
Highlights
According to the WHO millions of people each year die unnecessarily from a disease or condition even though effective medicines or vaccines exist for its treatment [1]
Since this study was carried out as part of a study on medicine quality, using both GPHF Minilab analysis and analysis according to the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), the selection of medicines was based on the availability of both a GPHF Minilab monograph and a USP monograph
A complete list of the medicines purchased at the sites, their characteristics and their prices is given in the S1 Table
Summary
According to the WHO millions of people each year die unnecessarily from a disease or condition even though effective medicines or vaccines exist for its treatment [1]. This is attributable to poor availability of essential medicines. A survey covering data from 25 low and middle income countries reported a 40% overall median availability of essential medicines in the public sector in 2014. Even when essential medicines are available, not every patient in low- and middle-income countries can afford them. The assessment by Ewen et al [6] underlined that only in few low—and—middle income countries essential medicines against NCDs are both available and affordable
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