Access to medicines in the Brazilian Unified Health System's primary health care : assessment of a public policy

Barbosa, Mariana M and Moreira, Thais A and Nascimento, Renata CRM and Nascimento, Mariana MG and Acurcio, Francisco A and Godman, Brian and Guerra, Augusto A and Alvares-Teodoro, Juliana (2021) Access to medicines in the Brazilian Unified Health System's primary health care : assessment of a public policy. Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, 10 (10). pp. 869-879. ISSN 2042-6313 (https://doi.org/10.2217/cer-2021-0026)

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Abstract

In 2008, the Programa Rede Farmácia de Minas (RFM, literally translated: ‘Minas Gerais Pharmacy Network’ program) was created as a strategy to expand access to medicines. Aim: Measure access to medicines in public pharmacies through comparison between municipalities that joined or not the RFM. Materials & methods: Cross-sectional, evaluative study, gathering information from a representative sample of the municipalities in Minas Gerais between July 2014 and May 2015. The Poisson regression results were obtained by calculating the prevalence ratios. Results: Adequate access to medicines in Minas Gerais was 69.9%, being 75.8% in municipalities with and 69.2% without the RFM. The municipalities with the RFM showed statistically higher percentages in the Availability, Adequacy/Accommodation, and Acceptability dimensions. Conclusion: RFM appears an efficient strategy for promoting access to medicines.

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