Availability, price, and affordability of essential medicines used in chronic diseases treatment: A research on pharmacies in Ankara

Equitable access to medicines is seen as a priority globally. World Health Organization has promoted equitable access, emphasizing the concept of essential medicines since the 1970s. Essential medicines are medicines that meet the health needs of the majority of the population. The basic right to health cannot be fulfilled without equal access to essential medicines. The study aims to examine the availability, price and affordability of essential medicines used in the treatment of chronic diseases, which are seen as drugs that meet the primary health needs of the population, in pharmacies in Ankara. In the research is based on Measuring Medicine Prices, Availability, Affordability and Price Components 2nd Edition. The sample of the study consists of 334 pharmacies in Ankara, which were selected through stratified sampling. Within the scope of the research, a total of 24 essential medicines used in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and palliative care were examined. The data were collected by face-to-face survey method. The availability, price and affordability were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and Microsoft Excel. It was found that 15 medicines met the 80% availability target set by WHO, but 9 medicines did not. The originator medicines are more available than the generic medicines. Availability of cardiovascular disease medicines is highest. This is followed by palliative cancer care medicines, respiratory medicines and diabetes medicines, respectively. The price of 79% of medicines is higher than international reference prices. The median price ratio of originator medicines was higher or equal to that of generic medicines. It is found that generic medicines be more advantageous in terms of affordability than originator medicines. Glibenclamide, Budesonide, Gliclazide and, Diazepam are both low in availability and national medicine prices are higher than international prices. This research is the first to use the World Health Organization/International Health Action methodology on the availability, price, and affordability of essential medicines in Turkey. Findings of the study highlight priority areas of action to improve access to affordable medicines.