Measuring Availability, Prices and Affordability of Ischaemic Heart Disease Medicines in Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
10.21315/mjms2019.26.5.10
- Author:
Huay Woon You
1
;
Nur Syamilah Athirah Tajuddin
1
;
Yusuf Al- Mubin Shaharin Anwar
1
Author Information
1. Pusat GENIUS@Pintar Negara, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Keywords;
ischaemic heart disease, medicine prices, affordability, availability, private sector
- From:Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences
2019;26(5):113-121
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background: This study is aimed to analyse the availability, prices and affordability of
medicines for ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
Methods: A quantitative research was carried out using the methodology developed by
the World Health Organization and Health Action International (WHO/HAI). The prices were
compared with international reference prices (IRPs) to obtain a median price ratio. The daily wage
of the lowest paid unskilled government worker was used as the standard of the affordability for
the medicines. In this study, ten medicines of the IHD were included. The data were collected from
10 private medicine outlets for both originator brand (OB) and lowest-priced generic brand (LPG)
in Bangi, Selangor.
Results: From the results, the mean availability of OB and LPG were 30% and 42%,
respectively. Final patient prices for LPG and OB were about 10.77 and 24.09 times their IRPs,
respectively. Medicines that consumes more than a day’s wage are considered unaffordable.
Almost half of the IHD medications cost more than one day’s wage. For example, the lowest paid
unskilled government worker would need 1.4 days’ wage for captopril, while 1.2 days’ wage to
purchase enalapril for LPG. Meanwhile, for OB, the costs rise to 3.4 days’ wage for amlodipine and
3.3 days’ wage for simvastatin.
Conclusion: The findings of this study emphasise the need of focusing and financing,
particularly in the private sector, on making chronic disease medicines accessible. This requires
multi-faceted interventions, as well as the review of policies and regulations.
- Full text:3.2019my0816.pdf
