ArticleBMJ open2024
Availability of essential, generic medicines before and during COVID-19 at selected public pharmaceutical supply agencies in Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Availability of essential medicines in conflict-affected african regions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Conflict and health · 2026Review
- Exploring factors affecting access to non-communicable disease medicines in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Exploring health system challenges and gaps for crisis response in Ethiopia: a scoping review of publications and reports from 2020-2024.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- A real-world retrospective cohort study comparing brand-name febuxostat (feburic) and generic febuxostat (feuri).Science progressArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesLockdowns and border closures impacted medicine availability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the availability of essential, generic medicines for chronic diseases at public pharmaceutical supply agencies in Ethiopia.
designComparative cross-sectional study.
settingThe availability of essential, generic medicines for chronic diseases was assessed at two public pharmaceutical supply agency hubs.
participantsThe current study included public supply agency hub managers, warehouse managers and forecasting officers at the study setting. OUTCOMES: The assessment encompassed the availability of chronic medicines on the day of data collection, as well as records spanning 8 months before the outbreak and 1 year during the pandemic. A total of 22 medicines were selected based on their inclusion in the national essential drug list for public health facilities, including 17 medicines for cardiovascular disease and 5 for diabetes mellitus.
resultsThe results of the study indicate that the mean availability of the selected basket medicines was 43.3% (95% CI: 37.1 to 49.5) during COVID-19, which was significantly lower than the availability of 67.4% (95% CI: 62.2 to 72.6) before the outbreak (p<0.001). Prior to COVID-19, the overall average line-item fill rate for the selected products was 78%, but it dropped to 49% during the pandemic. Furthermore, the mean number of days out of stock per month was 11.7 (95% CI: 9.9 to 13.5) before the outbreak of COVID-19, which significantly increased to 15.7 (95% CI: 13.2 to 18.2) during the pandemic, indicating a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). Although the prices for some drugs remained relatively stable, there were significant price hikes for some products. For example, the unit price of insulin increased by more than 130%.
conclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic worsened the availability of essential chronic medicines, including higher rates of stockouts and unit price hikes for some products in the study setting. The study's findings imply that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated already-existing medicine availability issues. Efforts should be made to develop contingency plans and establish mechanisms to monitor medicine availability and pricing during such crises.
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