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Availability and Accessibility to Medicines in Primary Health Care in a Brazilian Region

1, 2, 2★★ Corresponding author

  1. 1Post Graduation Programme in Medicines and Pharmaceutical Services, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antônio Carlos, 6627-Campus Pampulha, Belo Horizonte-MG, BRASIL.
  2. 2Department of Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antônio Carlos, 6627-Campus Pampulha, Belo Horizonte-MG, BRASIL.

CORRESPONDENCE

Marina Guimarães Lima

Department of Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antônio Carlos, 6627-Campus Pampulha, Belo Horizonte-MG, BRASIL.

marina.glima@gmail.com

Volume 8, Issue 3 · pp. 255-258 · 2016 · DOI: 10.5530/jyp.2016.3.15

ABSTRACT

Objective: The aim with the present study was to evaluate availability and accessibility to medicines in Primary Health Care in Northeast Health District, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.Method: It was an epidemiological, descriptive and cross-sectional study, conducted in the central warehouse and in twenty Primary Health Care units. The data was collected through direct observation, in information systems and in a survey with patients. Indicators proposed by World Health Organization were used to analyze the availability and accessibility.Results: The average availability of essential medicines from a key list in stock observed in visits in Primary Health Care units was 98,3 ± 3,7% and in the past 12 months was 42,5 ± 13,6%. One thousand and three hundred eighty-three medicines were prescribed to patients and 1066 (77,1%) of them were actually dispensed. An association of the presence of medicine in Essential Medicine List with dispensing of medicine was observed (p=0,00). It was observed that 93,2% of patients spent until 30 min in the way from their residence to Primary Health Care unit.Conclusion: The conditions of availability of medicines in stock in visits and the accessibility to services in PHC were satisfactory; however, limitations were observed in yearly availability of medicines and in the attendance of patient`s needs for prescribed medicines. Actions are recommended to improve availability of medicines such as the adoption of the Essential Medicine List.

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    Dutra, K. R., Martins, U. C. M., & Lima, M. G. (2016). Availability and Accessibility to Medicines in Primary Health Care in a Brazilian Region. Journal of Young Pharmacists, 8(3), 255-258. https://doi.org/10.5530/jyp.2016.3.15

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    © 2016 Author(s)

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0