Availability of Essential Medicines in a Country in Conflict: A Quantitative Insight from Yemen

Mohamed Izham Mohamed Ibrahim, Mohammed Alshakka, Nazeh Al-abd, Awsan Bahattab and Wafa Badulla
Additional contact information
Mohamed Izham Mohamed Ibrahim: Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Practice, Head of Research and Graduate Studies–Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar
Mohammed Alshakka: Section of Clinical Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aden University, Aden, Yemen
Nazeh Al-abd: Department of Para-Clinic, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen
Awsan Bahattab: Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen
Wafa Badulla: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Background: Medicine and medical supplies are often in short supply in countries suffering from the scourge of conflict. Effective medicine supply policies are lacking in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly during conflict. This study aimed to assess the availability of essential medicines in both the public and private healthcare sectors. Methods: The study was conducted by administering a survey from November 2017 to February 2018 using the World Health Organization/Health Action International (WHO/HAI) guidelines and methodology. Thirty healthcare facilities in thirteen districts from three governorates in Yemen were included in the assessment of thirty essential medicines. The results were reported as frequencies and percentages of outlets with available medicines on the day of data collection. Results: A set of 30 vital and essential medicines were selected from the list of essential medicines that are used in healthcare centers in Yemen to treat prevalent diseases. In general, only 52.8% of the selected medicines were available in public and private healthcare settings. The distribution and availability of medicines in the three governorates were approximately equal. The availability of medicines was better in the private healthcare settings, specifically 73.3% in private hospitals and approximately 79.7% in private pharmacies. Conclusions: The availability of essential medicines during this state of conflict in three governorates in Yemen is low, in both public and private hospitals and healthcare centers. Many of the medications that were not available are used to treat chronic illnesses.

Keywords: availability; accessibility; conflict; essential medicines; vital medicines; low- and middle-income countries; Yemen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/175/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/175/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2020:i:1:p:175-:d:469899

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().