scholarly journals Variation in Price of Medicines and Free Medicine Availability for Treatment of Non-communicable Diseases in Public Sector of Eastern Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrit Devkota ◽  
Anubhav Paudel ◽  
Bhawesh Koirala ◽  
Dharanidhar Baral ◽  
Swotantra Gautam ◽  
...  

Background: Nepal is witnessing rise in non-communicable chronic diseases. Costs of the medicine, availability of the medicine for free in public health sectors and variation of price of medicines may play an important role in the management of chronic disease. The study was undertaken to find out the variation in price of drugs used for treating non communicable diseases among private pharmacies and availability of free essential medicines in public facilities.Methods: Randomly selected 33 public health centers and 13 pharmacies were included for the study. Availability of free essential medicines for treating selected chronic diseases was assessed in public health centers and percentage price variation in various branded drugs used for treating these diseases was assessed at the consumer level.Results: Out of 89 different formulations, variations between maximum and minimum priced brands of more than 100% were observed in 37 formulations and that of > 200% in 22 formulations. Thirty-seven formulations had more than 100% inter-pharmacy variation. The most commonly available free essential medicines was 4 mg salbutamol (88.57%) while the least available free essential drug was levothyroxine 5 mg (9.0%).Conclusions: Considerable variation in prices is seen among similar drugs and in prices of same drug in different pharmacies. These factors may have implications in the management of chronic disease in Nepal offsetting the government’s effort to control chronic diseases.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wafa K. Alnakhi ◽  
Heba Mamdouh ◽  
Hamid Y. Hussain ◽  
Gamal M. Ibrahim ◽  
Amar Sabri Ahmad ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of death worldwide. In the UAE, NCDs account for nearly 77% of all deaths. There is limited empirical research on this topic in the UAE. We aim to examine this association among the adult population in the Emirate of Dubai.Method: This study used data from the Dubai Household Health Survey (DHHS), 2019. In this survey, 2,247 families were interviewed and only adults aged 18+ were included for the analysis. The self-reported chronic disease was defined as reporting any chronic morbidities occurred during the past year that required ongoing medical attention and medical care. Sociodemographic characteristics covariates were age group, marital status, nationality, gender, education and working status. The quasi-binomial distribution was used to identify factors associated with chronic disease.Results: The prevalence of chronic diseases among the adult population of Dubai was 15.01%. Individuals aged 60+, local Arabs (Emirati), divorced and widowed individuals, and individuals who were not currently working reported a chronic disease more than the other groups. In the regression analysis, age (years) was the strongest predictor (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 2.8, 4.7). Males were more likely to report a chronic disease (OR 1.61, 95% CI: 1.277, 2.035). Unmarried individuals were less likely to report a chronic disease (OR 0.11, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.70). However, older individuals who were unmarried were more likely to report a chronic disease compared to the reference group (OR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.2, 6.1). Emiratis were more likely to report a chronic disease (OR 2.08, 95% CI: 1.62, 2.67).Conclusion: The self-reported rate of chronic disease was shown to be higher in older individuals, males, Emiratis, and older individuals who were unmarried. This is one of the few studies related to chronic diseases in Dubai. It is important to translate the current study findings into policies to help reduce the incidence of chronic diseases in Dubai and to minimize the negative impact of these illnesses, particularly among those with the sociodemographic risk factors identified here. In addition, healthcare services and resources should be reallocated to the population groups with greater health needs.


Author(s):  
Aasim Farooq Shah ◽  
Irfan Ashraf Baba ◽  
Subha Soumya Dany ◽  
Manu Batra

Background: Non communicable diseases (NCDs) are defined as diseases of long duration, generally progress slowly and are the major cause of adult mortality and morbidity worldwide. NCDs mainly lead by four diseases which include: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus (DM), cancers and chronic respiratory diseases. Poor oral health reflects the general health, and several oral diseases are related to chronic diseases. The aim and objectives was to find casual association between NCDs with oral disease and further aims to provide evidence to health care providers regarding the significance of oral health while treating the patients for NCDs.Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted to examine the oral health status of patients with NCD reporting to Dental OPD of Government Dental College and Hospital, Srinagar.  This hospital based study done through a convenience sampling technique, using a questionnaire and oral examination. A self-administered questionnaire was written in English language and was also translated in local language, first part of questionnaire was used to collect the demographic details, second part was designed regarding the medication history, oral habits such as smoking and consumption of betel nuts, medical history and earlier visit to dentist, cleaning of teeth, significance of dental health and its effect on general health and the third part of questionnaire was completely based on dental examination. The data was entered manually on Microsoft excel and then analyzed on statistical package SPSS version 20. Associations between different variables were assessed through application of χ2. The Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics 20.0.Results: The present study was established with a sample of 300 participants. Male to female ratio was 2:3. Mean age of the participants was 46.6 years. It was observed that out of the total patients who visited the dentist, 42% (n=126) suffered from some chronic disease. 61% (n=183) were oblivious of the importance of dental health. When inquired if oral health affects general health 58.6% (n= 176) acknowledged its importance. 59 participants who lost more than three teeth who had chronic disease, 58.6% (n=176) respondents presented with bleeding gums, 66.3% (n=199) with food deposition, 52% (n=158) had halitosis, 26% (n= 78) had oral ulceration, 22.3% (n=67).Conclusions: It was concluded from this study that majority of participants with chronic diseases had poor oral health which requires immediate attention from the medical practitioners as well as dentists should counsel patients for maintenance and promotion of oral health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teklehaimanot Fentie Wendie ◽  
Abdulmejid Ahmed ◽  
Solomon Ahmed Mohammed

Abstract Background Rational drug use requires that patients receive and take medication appropriately. Though the process of diagnosis and pharmaceutical care is complex, World Health Organization (WHO)/international network for rational use of drugs (INRUD) core drug use indicators investigate drug use to minimize the hazardous effect of the drug and enhance the wise use of scares resources. This study assessed drug use patterns in health centers of Dessie town using WHO/INRUD indicators. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in public health centers of Dessie town. Data were retrospectively collected from 1500 prescriptions dispensed from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018 using WHO data collection tool to assess prescribing indicators. For patient care and health facility indicators, 600 patients and 3 health centers were prospectively reviewed. Systematic random sampling was used to select samples. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Results The average number of drugs per encounter was 2.1. The percentage of encounters with antibiotics and injection was 44% and 13.9%, respectively. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and from an essential drug list was 98% and 100%, respectively. On average, patients spent 4.7 min for consultation and 105 s for dispensing. From 1305 prescribed drugs, 92% were dispensed, while only 4% were labeled adequately. More than half (54.8%) of patients had adequate knowledge of their medication. None of the health centers had an essential drug list. The availability of key essential medicines was 64.10%. Conclusion This study demonstrated irrational drug use practices in all healthcare facilities. Polypharmacy, antibiotics over-prescribing, short consultation and dispensing times, inadequate labeling of medicines, inadequate level of patients' knowledge about prescribed medicines, and unavailability of key drugs in stock were found to be the major problems. Continuous refreshment trainings on rational use of drugs and WHO recommendations should be given for prescribers and pharmacists. Further, we recommend studies involving large number of facilities to estimate overall prescribing practices.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Armstrong-Hough ◽  
Sandeep Kishore ◽  
Sarah Byakika ◽  
Gerald Mutungi ◽  
Marcella Nunez-Smith ◽  
...  

Objective Although the WHO-developed Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool is a comprehensive and widely applied survey of health facility preparedness, SARA data have not previously been used to model predictors of readiness. We sought to demonstrate that SARA data can be used to model availability of essential medicines for treating non-communicable diseases (EM-NCD). Methods We fit a Poisson regression model using 2013 SARA data from 196 Ugandan health facilities. The outcome was total number of different EM-NCD available. Basic amenities, equipment, region, health facility type, managing authority, NCD diagnostic capacity, and range of HIV services were tested as predictor variables. Findings In multivariate models, we found significant associations between EM-NCD availability and region, managing authority, facility type, and range of HIV services. For-profit facilities’ EM-NCD counts were 98% higher than public facilities (p<.001). General hospitals and referral health centers had 98% (p=.004) and 105% (p=.002) higher counts compared to primary health centers. Facilities in the North and East had significantly lower counts than those in the capital region (p=0.015; p=0.003). Offering HIV care was associated with 35% lower EM-NCD counts (p=0.006). Offering HIV counseling and testing was associated with 57% higher counts (p=0.048). Conclusion We identified multiple within-country disparities in availability of EM-NCD in Uganda. Our findings can be used to identify gaps and guide distribution of limited resources. While the primary purpose of SARA is to assess and monitor health services readiness, we show that it can also be an important resource for answering complex research and policy questions requiring multivariate analysis.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Armstrong-Hough ◽  
Sandeep Kishore ◽  
Sarah Byakika ◽  
Gerald Mutungi ◽  
Marcella Nunez-Smith ◽  
...  

Objective Although the WHO-developed Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool is a comprehensive and widely applied survey of health facility preparedness, SARA data have not previously been used to model predictors of readiness. We sought to demonstrate that SARA data can be used to model availability of essential medicines for treating non-communicable diseases (EM-NCD). Methods We fit a Poisson regression model using 2013 SARA data from 196 Ugandan health facilities. The outcome was total number of different EM-NCD available. Basic amenities, equipment, region, health facility type, managing authority, NCD diagnostic capacity, and range of HIV services were tested as predictor variables. Findings In multivariate models, we found significant associations between EM-NCD availability and region, managing authority, facility type, and range of HIV services. For-profit facilities’ EM-NCD counts were 98% higher than public facilities (p<.001). General hospitals and referral health centers had 98% (p=.004) and 105% (p=.002) higher counts compared to primary health centers. Facilities in the North and East had significantly lower counts than those in the capital region (p=0.015; p=0.003). Offering HIV care was associated with 35% lower EM-NCD counts (p=0.006). Offering HIV counseling and testing was associated with 57% higher counts (p=0.048). Conclusion We identified multiple within-country disparities in availability of EM-NCD in Uganda. Our findings can be used to identify gaps and guide distribution of limited resources. While the primary purpose of SARA is to assess and monitor health services readiness, we show that it can also be an important resource for answering complex research and policy questions requiring multivariate analysis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Vareda ◽  
T Garcia ◽  
J Rachadell

Abstract Background From disease prevention to health promotion, communication is key for Public Health (PH) practice and, according to the 9th Essential Public Health Operation its goal is to improve populations health literacy and capacity to access, understand and use information. Though social media is frequently presented as a potentially useful tool for PH communication, there is a lack of evidence about its effectiveness and impact on PH outcomes. This study researches Instagram® as a PH tool and aims to know who is using it, what content is shared on the platform and how much engagement there is. Methods This cross-sectional study regards information on 1000 Instagram® posts with the hashtags publichealth, publichealthpromotion, healthpromotion, publichealthmatters and publichealtheducation. Authors categorized post content and creators, and reviewed the number of likes and comments per post to determine engagement. Data analysis was performed on IBM SPSS® Statistics. Results The most common content categories were communicable diseases (n = 383), non-communicable diseases (n = 258) and healthy lifestyles (n = 143). Health professionals post more about communicable diseases (43,6%) and non-professionals about healthy lifestyles (36,1%). Non-professionals (n = 191) post about PH issues almost as much as health professionals (n = 220) and PH associations (n = 201). Most don't reference their sources (n = 821). Posts on communicable diseases have the most likes and comments per post (mean of 172 likes and 3,1 comments). Conclusions Half the Instagram® posts analysed in this study were made by health professionals or organizations. Communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and healthy lifestyles were the most frequent content categories and had the most engagement. The majority of posts didn't reference their sources. Though Instagram® seems to be a potential PH communication tool, further research is needed to confirm its benefits for PH. Key messages Social media platforms like Instagram® are potentially powerful tools for PH communication. There is a need to understand the efficacy of social media as health promotion tools.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Rashemdul Islam ◽  
Shamima Parvin Laskar ◽  
Darryl Macer

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) disproportionately affect low and middle-income countries where nearly three quarters of NCD deaths occur. Bangladesh is also in NCD burden. This cross-sectional study was done on 50 health facilities centres at Gazipur district in Bangladesh from July 2015 to December 2015 to introduce SARA for better monitoring and evaluation of non-communicable diseases health service delivery. The General Service readiness index score was 61.52% refers to the fact that about 62% of all the facilities were ready to provide general services like basic amenities, basic equipment, standard precautions for infection prevention, and diagnostic capacity and essential medicines to the patients. But in case of non-communicable diseases, among all the health facilities 40% had chronic respiratory disease and cardiovascular diseases diagnosis/ management and only 32% had availability of diabetes diagnosis/management. Overall readiness score was 52% in chronic respiratory disease, 73% in cardiovascular disease and 70% in diabetes. Therefore, service availability and readiness of the health facilities to provide NCD related health services were not up to the mark for facing future targets.  A full-scale census survey of all the facilities of the study area would give a better understanding of the availability and service readiness.


Obesity Facts ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Michele O. Carruba ◽  
Luca Busetto ◽  
Sheree Bryant ◽  
Antonio Caretto ◽  
Nathalie J. Farpour-Lambert ◽  
...  

The Milan Charter on Urban Obesity highlights the challenges of urban environments as a battleground for human health, as cities are often organized to subvert public health goals, and promote rather than prevent the development of obesity and consequent non-communicable diseases. The Charter articulates ten principles which detail actions and strategies through which general practitioners, diverse medical specialists, related healthcare professionals, administrators and healthcare practice managers, policy actors – within health systems and at a national level – along with experts across disciplines, and citizens, can work in cooperation to meet this challenge and improve public health. The Charter urges the adoption of decisions that deliver the following: (i) policies which enable our cities to become healthier and less obesogenic, more supportive of well-being and less health-disruptive in general, and (ii) policies that fully support primary prevention strategies, that address social stigma, and that ensure fair access to treatment for people living with obesity. The Milan Charter on Urban Obesity aims to raise awareness of our shared responsibility for the health of all citizens, and focuses on addressing the health of people living with obesity – not only as a challenge in its own right, but a gateway to other major non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla I. Galaviz ◽  
K. M. Venkat Narayan ◽  
Olivia Manders ◽  
Deborah A. McFarland ◽  
Shifalika Goenka ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

Abstract Current scientific evidence and reports from governmental organizations agree that healthy nutrition represents a key factor to prevent death and disability from major nutrition-related chronic diseases. For many years, the essential goal of healthy dietary recommendations included eating nutrient dense foods and limiting consumption of foods high in energy (sugar, starch and/or fat) to maintain a healthy weight. However, the scientific community abandoned the more simplistic approach of energy balance between calorie in and out, shifting into investigation of the whole diet quality as main determinant of health. With development of new technologies and globalization of the markets, the food availability improved worldwide, often in spite of (nutritional) quality and loss of local products production/consumption. As a result, there is an industry-supported wide spread of “non-traditional” foods, including processed foods characterized by various ingredients, added sugars, and additives that are highly influencing consumers' behaviors and, only recently, questioned for their role on general public health. This workshop aims to provide insights on consumption of ultra-processed foods up to the extreme processing of dietary supplements and their use and misuse, emphasizing on their potential impact on traditional dietary patterns. The objectives of the present workshop are the following: To provide a science-based definition of processed and ultra-processed foods; To explore current evidence of the association between ultra-processed foods and risk of chronic non-communicable diseases and mortality; To explore current evidence of the association between dietary supplements and human health; To discuss whether introduction of non-traditional foods may affect the relation between traditional dietary patterns and health. Given the novelty of the topic, it is crucial to summarize current evidence from lead experts on this field of research and sharing opinions with the audience in light of the presented results. The conclusions might have crucial implications for potential policy and research outcomes. Key messages Uncontrolled consumption of ultra-processed foods and dietary supplements represent a potential threat for general public health. The inclusion of ultra-processed foods into traditional healthy dietary patterns may affect their efficacy in preventing chronic non-communicable diseases.


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