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WHO Essential Medicines Policies and Use in Developing and Transitional Countries: An Analysis of Reported Policy Implementation and Medicines Use Surveys

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  • Kathleen Anne Holloway
  • David Henry

Abstract

: Kathleen Holloway and David Henry evaluate whether countries that report having implemented WHO essential medicines policies have higher quality use of medicines. Background: Suboptimal medicine use is a global public health problem. For 35 years the World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted essential medicines policies to improve quality use of medicines (QUM), but evidence of their effectiveness is lacking, and uptake by countries remains low. Our objective was to determine whether WHO essential medicines policies are associated with better QUM. Methods and Findings: We compared results from independently conducted medicines use surveys in countries that did versus did not report implementation of WHO essential medicines policies. We extracted survey data on ten validated QUM indicators and 36 self-reported policy implementation variables from WHO databases for 2002–2008. We calculated the average difference (as percent) for the QUM indicators between countries reporting versus not reporting implementation of specific policies. Policies associated with positive effects were included in a regression of a composite QUM score on total numbers of implemented policies. Data were available for 56 countries. Twenty-seven policies were associated with better use of at least two percentage points. Eighteen policies were associated with significantly better use (unadjusted p

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  • Kathleen Anne Holloway & David Henry, 2014. "WHO Essential Medicines Policies and Use in Developing and Transitional Countries: An Analysis of Reported Policy Implementation and Medicines Use Surveys," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pmed00:1001724
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001724
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    Cited by:

    1. Biruk Wogayehu & Yilma Chisha & Be’emnetu Tekabe & Ayalew Adinew & Mulugeta Asefaw, 2019. "A cross sectional comparison of drug use indicators using WHO methodology in primary level hospitals participating in an Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services program versus non-APTS prim," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-26, October.
    2. Katrina Perehudoff & Ivan Demchenko & Nikita V. Alexandrov & David Brutsaert & Angela Ackon & Carlos E. Durán & Faris El-Dahiyat & Firdaus Hafidz & Rezwan Haque & Rabia Hussain & Roderick Salenga & Fa, 2020. "Essential Medicines in Universal Health Coverage: A Scoping Review of Public Health Law Interventions and How They Are Measured in Five Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-30, December.
    3. S Katrina Perehudoff & Nikita V Alexandrov & Hans V Hogerzeil, 2019. "The right to health as the basis for universal health coverage: A cross-national analysis of national medicines policies of 71 countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Kathleen Anne Holloway & Laura Rosella & David Henry, 2016. "The Impact of WHO Essential Medicines Policies on Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-12, March.
    5. Mai Duong & Rebekah J Moles & Betty Chaar & Timothy F Chen & World Hospital Pharmacy Research Consortium (WHoPReC), 2015. "Essential Medicines in a High Income Country: Essential to Whom?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Onella Charles & Igho Onakpoya & Simran Benipal & Hannah Woods & Anjli Bali & Jeffrey K Aronson & Carl Heneghan & Nav Persaud, 2019. "Withdrawn medicines included in the essential medicines lists of 136 countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Kathleen Anne Holloway & Verica Ivanovska & Solaiappan Manikandan & Mathaiyan Jayanthi & Anbarasan Mohan & Gilles Forte & David Henry, 2020. "Identifying the most effective essential medicines policies for quality use of medicines: A replicability study using three World Health Organisation data-sets," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-16, February.

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