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Availability of essential medicines in primary care in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Background: The constant availability of essential medicines at primary care is important for credibility and equity of healthcare services, especially for disadvantageous population. Methods: This study used the existing data to evaluate the availability of 30 essential medicines in 78 district health centers (DHCs) and 246 commune health stations (CHSs), located in 6 ecological regions in Vietnam. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the number of medicines, level, and percentage of availability. Analytical statistics were used to determine the differences between commune and district level. Results: On average, DHCs had 15.5 (SD = 4.5), and CHSs had 10.5 (SD = 5.3) of 30 medicines. 56.4% DHCs had fairly high or high level of availability. Meanwhile, the rate at commune level was only 24.8%. None of the surveyed health facilities had enough 30 selected medicines. The study findings showed considerable variation in the availability of medicines across ecological regions, therapeutic groups; as well as among medicines for chronic and acute diseases, or over-the-counter and prescription ones. Conclusions: The study demonstrated a poor availability of essential medicines across all levels of primary healthcare in Vietnam. Policymakers of the Drug administration and Health insurance department should soon work together to develop and regulate such a list of essential medicines.