ANALYSIS OF SOME FACTORS AFFECTING ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL MEDICINES IN THE CITY AND SOME DISTRICTS OF THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE

Background: Essential medicines play an important role in the primary health care program. At least one third of the world’s population has no regular access to these medicines. The availibility and price are two of factors affecting access to essential medicines. Objective: To analyse the availability and the price of essential medicines in the city and some districts of Thua Thien Hue Province. Methods: Using the WHO/ HAI methodology. Results: The originator brand drugs were less available as compared to the lowest price generics. Median availability of originator brand drugs and lowest price generics were 0.0% and 40.0% in public sector. Similarily, these values were respectively 20.0% and 53.3% in private sector, 0.0% and 50.0% in other sector. The median MPRs of innovator drugs was 9.26 and 14.00 for private and other sector respectively while that of generic equivalent versions was 0.68 for public sector, 1.88 for private sector and 1.54 for other sector. Conclusion: The avalibility of originator products was lower than that of lowest price generics. Although the median price of originator brand drugs was much higher than the international reference prices, generic price was almost reasonable. The availibilty as well as the median MPRs figure for the private sector was higher than that for the public sector and other sector. Key words: Medicine prices, availability, essential medicines, WHO/HAI methodology, median price ratio (MPR)