Acesso a medicamentos essenciais em farmácias e drogarias do Município de Araraquara

• Autor(a) principal: Ferreira-Filho, J. C R [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Correia, G. T. [UNESP], Mastroianni, Patricia de Carvalho [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://serv-bib.fcfar.unesp.br/seer/index.php/Cien_Farm/article/view/1137; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/71675
• topic: Drug price; Drugs, generic; Economics, pharmaceutical; Pharmacoepidemiology; amoxicillin; bacitracin; beclometasone; captopril; cotrimoxazole; dexamethasone; digoxin; essential drug; ferrous sulfate; glibenclamide; hydrochlorothiazide; ibuprofen; mebendazole; metronidazole; neomycin; nystatin; oral contraceptive agent; paracetamol; propranolol; ranitidine; salbutamol; drug bioavailability; drug cost; pharmacoepidemiology; pharmacy; world health organization

A survey to determine the availability of 20 essential medicines for the diseases with highest prevalence in primary health care was conducted in the city of Araraquara. The presence and the price of these medicines in private sector pharmacies and drugstores of the city were recorded. Two forms, recommended by the WHO, were used in the survey, one for availability and the other for prices. The drugs most commonly available in pharmacies and drugstores were: propranolol (90.5%), captopril (96%) and ranitidine (96%), while the least available were ferrous sulfate (27%), beclomethasone (33.8%) and ibuprofen (41.9%). The drugs that showed the greatest variation among the prices charged were: propranolol (97.1%), hydrochlorothiazide (96.4%) and glibenclamide (95.0%), while the least variable were salbutamol (30.8%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (30.2%). Generic drugs, which were half (10) of those assessed, had the lowest prices. The indicators of access, referring to the ability of patients to acquire drugs for the treatment of major diseases at the primary health care level, showed that no establishment stocked all 20 essential drugs and that wide variations existed in their prices, undermining their availability to drug users, whose only sources are pharmacies and drugstores. These data demonstrate the importance of the popular pharmacy to improve the access to medicines, by lowering the cost and increasing the availability of the items selected for the National List of Essential Drugs (RENAME).