Articles

Human resources health supply chains and access to essential medicines

Authors: Andrew Brown, Muhammad Atif, Erin Hasselberg, Pamela Steele, Chris Wright and Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar

“Health supply chain personnel: an integral part of the health workforce.”

Authors: Giorgio Cometto, Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, Andrew Brown, Lisa Hedman and James Campbell

Antibiotic repeat prescriptions: are patients not re-filling them properly?

This study aimed to explore patients’ utilization of repeat prescriptions for antibiotics indicated in upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). An emphasis was placed on whether the current system of repeat ...

Authors: Iman Zayegh, Theresa L Charrois, Jeffery Hughes and Kreshnik Hoti

The availability of six tracer medicines in private medicine outlets in Uganda

Many low income countries struggle to provide safe and effective medicines due to poor public health care infrastructure, budgetary constraints, and lack of human resource capacity. Private sector pharmacies a...

Authors: Catherine Birabwa, Jude Murison, Valerie Evans, Celestino Obua, Amon Agaba, Paul Waako and Allyson Pollock

Tuberculosis deaths: are we measuring accurately?

Death among tuberculosis patients is one of the major reasons for non-attainment of 85% treatment success target set by World Health Organization. In this short paper, we evaluated whether the overall mortalit...

Authors: Muhammad Atif, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman, Asrul Akmal Shafie, Muhammad Qamar Uz Zaman and Muhammad Asif

Adherence to treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria at two public health facilities in Nigeria; Implications for the ‘test and treat’ policy of malaria case management

Adherence to treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria is critical to the success of malaria case management. Poor adherence has implications for increased malaria burden, in view of the risk of widesprea...

Authors: Charles C Ezenduka, Mathew J Okonta and Charles O Esimone

Occurrence and clinical management of moderate-to-severe adverse events during drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment: a retrospective cohort study

To determine the incidence of symptomatic moderate-to-severe adverse events during treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, and to compare their risk and outcomes by patients’ human immunodeficiency virus (HI...

Authors: Evans L Sagwa, Aukje K Mantel-Teeuwisse and Nunurai C Ruswa

Comparative assessment of medicine procurement prices in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main primary healthcare provider for 4.9 million Palestinian refugees, spent USD18.3 million on essential medicin...

Authors: Margaret Ewen, Maisa Al Sakit, Rawan Saadeh, Richard Laing, Catherine Vialle-Valentin, Akihiro Seita and Joske Bunders

Effects of the National Essential Medicine System in reducing drug prices: an empirical study in four Chinese provinces

The rapid increase in drug expenditure has become a major source of public criticism in China. In 2009, the National Essential Medicine System (NEMS) was launched in China to control drug prices and improve ac...

Authors: Yan Song, Ying Bian, Max Petzold, Lingui Li and Aitian Yin

Engaging the private sector to improve antimicrobial use in the community: experience from accredited drug dispensing outlets in Tanzania

A public-private partnership in Tanzania launched the accredited drug dispensing outlet (ADDO) program to improve access to quality medicines and pharmaceutical services in rural areas. ADDO dispensers play a ...

Authors: Richard Valimba, Jafary Liana, Mohan P Joshi, Edmund Rutta, Martha Embrey, Maganga Bundala and Bryceson Kibassa

Contribution of antimicrobial stewardship programs to reduction of antimicrobial therapy costs in community hospital with 429 Beds --before-after comparative two-year trial in Japan

Do antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) contribute to reduction of antimicrobial therapy costs in Japanese community hospitals? To answer this health economic question, a before-after comparative two-year...

Authors: Tetsuya Fukuda, Hidemi Watanabe, Saeko Ido and Makoto Shiragami

Healthcare reform in the United States and China: pharmaceutical market implications

The United States and China are broadening health insurance coverage and increasing spending on pharmaceuticals, in contrast to other major economies that are reducing health spending and implementing a variet...

Authors: Arthur Daemmrich and Ansuman Mohanty

The future of medicines use and access research: using the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice as a platform for change

Authors: Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, Andy Gray, Ayyaz Kiani, Sabine Vogler, Peri Ballantyne and Shane Scahill

Physicians’ perception of generic and electronic prescribing: A descriptive study from Jordan

The aim of this study was to investigate Jordanian physicians’ perception and attitudes toward generic medicines and generic substitution. It also aimed to examine factors that affect physicians’ pattern of pr...

Authors: Faris El-Dahiyat, Reem Kayyali and Penelope Bidgood

Medicines discarded in household garbage: analysis of a pharmaceutical waste sample in Vienna

To analyze a sample of pharmaceutical waste drawn from household garbage in Vienna, with the aim to learn whether and which medicines end up unused in normal household waste.

Authors: Sabine Vogler, Christine Leopold, Christel Zuidberg and Claudia Habl

The Papua New Guinea medical supply system - documenting opportunities and challenges to meet the Millennium Development Goals

Limited human resources are widely recognised as an impediment to achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals in Pacific Island Countries, with the availability of medical supplies and suitably t...

Authors: Andrew N Brown and Ben Gilbert

An in-depth analysis of pharmaceutical regulation in the Republic of Moldova

Regulation of the pharmaceutical system is a crucial, yet often neglected, component in ensuring access to safe and effective medicines. The aim of this study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the existin...

Authors: Alessandra Ferrario, Nina Sautenkova, Zinaida Bezverhni, Rita Seicas, Jarno Habicht, Panos Kanavos and Vladimir Safta

Stock-outs of antiretroviral drugs and coping strategies used to prevent changes in treatment regimens in Kinondoni District, Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

Since 2004, the government of Tanzania has been rolling out antiretroviral treatment programs all over the country. However, the capacity of the health system to cope with the rapid scale-up of these programs ...

Authors: Amani Thomas Mori and Joyce Owenya

A research agenda to promote affordable and quality assured medicines

Promoting generic medicines to increase access to essential medicines is relevant to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) and post 2015 goals.

Authors: Warren A Kaplan and Veronika J Wirtz

Immigrant background and medicine use for aches: national representative study of adolescents

The aims of the study were to examine the association between immigrant background and medicine use for headache and stomach-ache among adolescents, and whether symptoms of headache and stomach-ache could expl...

Authors: Lourdes Cantarero-Arévalo, Bjørn E Holstein, Anette Andersen, Maria Kristiansen and Ebba H Hansen

Economics and industry do not mean ethical conduct in clinical trials

Clinical trials present an ethical dilemma for pharmaceutical companies. While companies may want to undertake and report these trials in an ethical manner, negative results can significantly affect product sa...

Authors: Joel Lexchin

Malaria treatment policies and drug efficacy in Haiti from 1955-2012

Chloroquine (CQ), after 67 years of use in Haiti, is still part of the official treatment policy for malaria. Several countries around the world have used CQ in the past due to its low incidence of adverse eve...

Authors: Michael E von Fricken, Thomas A Weppelmann, Jennifer D Hosford, Alexander Existe and Bernard A Okech

Antibiotic prescribing in women during and after delivery in a non-teaching, tertiary care hospital in Ujjain, India: a prospective cross-sectional study

Antibacterial drugs (hereafter referred to as antibiotics) are crucial to treat infections during delivery and postpartum period to reduce maternal mortality. Institutional deliveries have the potential to sav...

Authors: Megha Sharma, Linda Sanneving, Kalpana Mahadik, Michele Santacatterina, Suryaprakash Dhaneria and Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg

Response to Michael Wonder’s comments on the article ‘Assessment of the therapeutic value of new medicines marketed in Australia’

Authors: Agnes I Vitry

Assessment of the therapeutic value of new medicines marketed in Australia

Authors: Michael J Wonder

Access to antibiotics in New Delhi, India: implications for antibiotic policy

The present survey was conducted to investigate the price and availability of a basket of 24 essential antibiotics and eight high-end antibiotics at various levels of health care in public and private sector i...

Authors: Anita Kotwani and Kathleen Holloway

National medicines policies – a review of the evolution and development processes

Continuous provision of appropriate medicines of assured quality, in adequate quantities, and at reasonable prices is a concern for all national governments. A national medicines policy (NMP) developed in a co...

Authors: Joëlle M Hoebert, Liset van Dijk, Aukje K Mantel-Teeuwisse, Hubert GM Leufkens and Richard O Laing

Antimicrobial sensitivity patterns of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) isolates in Namibia: implications for empirical antibiotic treatment of meningitis

Bacterial meningitis is a medical emergency associated with high mortality rates. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture is the “gold standard” for diagnosis of meningitis and it is important to establish the susce...

Authors: Assegid Mengistu, Johannes Gaeseb, Gottfried Uaaka, Christophine Ndjavera, Kennedy Kambyambya, Lazarus Indongo, Francis Kalemeera, Christopher Ntege, David Mabirizi, Mohan P Joshi and Evans Sagwa

Evaluating patients’ perceptions regarding generic medicines in Jordan

The aim of this study was to explore Jordanian patients’ perceptions toward generic medicines and to evaluate their opinions regarding generic substitution.

Authors: Faris El-Dahiyat and Reem Kayyali

Assessment of the therapeutic value of new medicines marketed in Australia

The belief that all new medicines bring a therapeutic innovation and better health outcomes is widely shared among the public, health professionals and policy makers.

Authors: Agnes I Vitry, Ng Huah Shin and Pauline Vitre

Southern Med Review to Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice: broadening the remit!

Authors: Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, Shane Scahill, Ayyaz Kiani and Caroline Vaughan