ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABILITY OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES IN PUBLIC HEALTH FACILITIES IN SEKONDI-TAKORADI METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT Essential medicines are selected to meet the priority health needs of majority of the population. The World Health Organization has set a benchmark of 80% availability of these essential medicines in health facilities. However, over 50% of the population in Low and Middle Income Countries still lack access with only about 30% of the medicines being available to them in both public and private health facilities. In Ghana, availability is still low with only about 17% of essential medicines available in public health facilities where majority of Ghanaians seek healthcare. Many factors contribute to this low availability in other parts of the world which includes financial factors on the part of health institutions to procure these medicines, affordability to the patients and supply chain and procurement factors. The objective of the study is to assess the availability of essential medicines in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed using mainly quantitative methods complemented with qualitative methods to assess the availability and affordability of 50 essential medicines in public health facilities the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. Fourteen public health facilities were selected to participate in the study. The World Health Organization and Health Action International Methodology, 2008 was applied in the study. The availability of essential medicines Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis was 64.5%. The most available essential medicines included Artemether Lumefantrine used to treat malaria. The results showed mean essential medicine availability of 64.5% for generic and 0.3% for originator brands. Median price ratios was 2.03 with 25th and 75th percentile price ratio of 1.43 and 3.17 respectively. Prices of essential medicines are two times higher than the international reference price published by Management Science for Health. The minimum wage earner requires 0.3 to 3 days’ wage in order to buy essential medicines for the treatment of the common diseases in the Metropolis. The procurement system is efficient with competitive procurement price similar to international prices published by the Management Science for Health. Prices of essential medicines remain high and strict adherence to medicine pricing policies is required to make medicines more affordable to low income earning Ghanaians.