Abstract
Objectives
During the past decade, the health system in Syria has been devastated due to the ongoing conflict which affected the production of pharmaceuticals as well. Patients of chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, were significantly affected by the shortages of oral anti-diabetic medications, especially those of lower socioeconomic status. The objective of this paper is to study the causes and effects of the shortage of oral anti-diabetic agents in the Syrian market on patients with low socioeconomic status who find difficulties in accessing these medications.
Methods
The methodology of the study includes determining the availability of nationally produced oral anti-diabetic agents in different local pharmacies. Then, it studied the effects of this availability on low socioeconomic status patients whose prescriptions were registered in a local NGO and analysed using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft, USA).
Key findings
The study shows that many of the anti-diabetic medications included in the study have less than 50% availability in the pharmacies. Metformin, which is considered as a first-line treatment in diabetes has 40% availability. In addition, metformin was the most prescribed medication with about 57% frequency followed by gliclazide with 37% prescription frequency.
Conclusion
This study raises concerns about the continuity of supply of some of the oral anti-diabetic agents in the Syrian market. This can impact patient commitment to treatment, where patients from low socioeconomic status can be most affected by medication unavailability in nearby pharmacies or increased pricing due to high demand with low supply.
During the past decade, the health system in Syria has been devastated due to the ongoing conflict which affected the production of pharmaceuticals as well. Patients of chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, were significantly affected by the shortages of oral anti-diabetic medications, especially those of lower socioeconomic status. The objective of this paper is to study the causes and effects of the shortage of oral anti-diabetic agents in the Syrian market on patients with low socioeconomic status who find difficulties in accessing these medications.
Methods
The methodology of the study includes determining the availability of nationally produced oral anti-diabetic agents in different local pharmacies. Then, it studied the effects of this availability on low socioeconomic status patients whose prescriptions were registered in a local NGO and analysed using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft, USA).
Key findings
The study shows that many of the anti-diabetic medications included in the study have less than 50% availability in the pharmacies. Metformin, which is considered as a first-line treatment in diabetes has 40% availability. In addition, metformin was the most prescribed medication with about 57% frequency followed by gliclazide with 37% prescription frequency.
Conclusion
This study raises concerns about the continuity of supply of some of the oral anti-diabetic agents in the Syrian market. This can impact patient commitment to treatment, where patients from low socioeconomic status can be most affected by medication unavailability in nearby pharmacies or increased pricing due to high demand with low supply.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 364-369 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 27 Sept 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01 Nov 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Keywords
- diabetes mellitus
- low socioeconomic patients
- medication supply
- Syria
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics(all)
Access to Document
- Risk assessment of the continuity of essential medications for low socioeconomic patients in Syria: a case study of diabetes mellitus
Copyright 2022 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.