BACKGROUND WHO and Health Action International (HAI) have developed a standardised method for surveying medicine prices, availability, affordability, and price components in low-income and middle-income countries. Here, we present a secondary analysis of medicine availability in 45 national and subnational surveys done using the WHO/HAI methodology. METHODS Data from 45 WHO/HAI surveys in 36 ...

BACKGROUND Considerable emphasis is presently being placed on usage of generic medicines by governments focussed on the potential economic benefits associated with their use. Concurrently, there is increasing discussion in the lay media of perceived doubts regarding the quality and equivalence of generic medicines. The objective of this paper is to report the outcomes of a systematic search for...

OBJECTIVE To review the pharmaceutical sector in Cyprus in terms of the availability and affordability of medicines and to explore pharmaceutical policy options for the national health system finance reform expected to be introduced in 2016. METHODS We conducted semi-structured interviews in April 2014 with senior representatives from seven key national organizations involved in pharmaceutica...

Most low-income nations have national medicine policy that emphasized the use of generic medicines in the public health sector. However, the use of generics is often debatable as there are concerns over its efficacy, quality, and safety compared to their branded counterparts. This study was conducted to compare the knowledge and perception of generic medicines among final year undergraduate med...

BACKGROUND The accurate knowledge of generic medicine issues among future prescribers will enhance the prescribing of cost-effective medicines. This study aimed to explore the knowledge and perception of senior medical students about the generic medicines. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study was conducted among 237 senior medical students (final year students and interns) using a validated se...