Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 10:13:1555598.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1555598. eCollection 2025.

Trends and disparity in the provision and consumption of essential medicines in China from 2016 to 2021: institutional, regional, and economic variations

Mingyue Zhao #  1   2   3 , Chenglong Lin #  1   2   3 , Shengjie Ding  1   2   3 , Yubei Han  1   2   3 , Yuhan Zhao  1   2   3 , Ali Hassen Gillani  1   2   3 , Yu Fang  1   2   3
Affiliations

Trends and disparity in the provision and consumption of essential medicines in China from 2016 to 2021: institutional, regional, and economic variations

Mingyue Zhao et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the provision and consumption of essential medicines (EMs) across healthcare institutions, regions, and levels of economic development. Evaluate the mechanisms by which EMs policies promote their own implementation.

Methods: Using national drug utilization monitoring database (2016-2021), we perform a descriptive analysis to explore trends and disparities in EM provision and consumption across three institution levels, four regions (from 30 provinces), and different economic development levels in China. Key metrics include the average number and proportion of provided EMs and the consumption rate per healthcare institution. Utilize a two-way fixed-effects regression model to evaluate the relationship between EMs provision and consumption.

Findings: The average provided number of EMs is much lower than that in the national EMs list. Both provision (number and proportion) and consumption of EMs show institutional and regional disparities. There is a moderately positive correlation between EMs provided proportion and GDP (0.66, p < 0.01), while the provided proportion and consumption rate are moderately negatively correlated with GDP (-0.66, p < 0.01; -0.64, p < 0.01). In highly developed regions, EMs supply is highest but utilization lowest; in underdeveloped regions, provision is least but utilization relatively high.

Conclusion: This study shows disparities in EM provision and consumption across institutions, regions, and economic levels in China. Although essential medicine policy coordination with other policies needs improvement, targeted interventions are needed to bridge gaps in less developed regions and promote medicine equity.

Keywords: China’s healthcare system; EMs availability and consumption; equitable healthcare access; essential medicines availability; global health; regional disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The provision and consumption of EMs per health institute, China, 2016–2021.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hospital level related provision and consumption of EMs per health institute, China, 2016–2021. (a) The average number of provided EMs in hospitals at various levels. (b) The rate of prescribed EMs in hospitals at various levels. (c) The proportion of provided EMs in hospitals at various levels.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The provision and consumption of EMs in different regions per health institute, China, 2016–2021. (a) The average number of provided EMs in various areas. (b) The rate of prescribed EMs in various areas. (c) The proportion of provided EMs in various areas.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The provision and consumption of EMs per health institute in relation to provincial GDP of China, 2021. (a) The horizontal axis was the average number of provided EMs; (b) The horizontal axis was the proportion of provided EMs.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The provision and consumption of EMs per health institute in different GDP group of China, 2021. (a) The horizontal axis is the average number of provided EMs; (b) The horizontal axis is the proportion of provided EMs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Essential medicines . World Health Organization Western Pacific. (2024). Available online at: https://www.who.int/westernpacific/health-topics/essential-medicines (accessed Nov 8, 2024)
    1. Hogerzeil HV. The concept of essential medicines: lessons for rich countries. BMJ. (2004) 329:1169–72. doi: 10.1136/bmj.329.7475.1169, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tanimoto T, Tsuda K, Kurokawa T, Mori J, Shimmura H. Essential medicines for universal health coverage. Lancet. (2017) 389:1880–1. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(17)31211-4, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. National essential medicines list. 2009 ed. Beijing: Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China. (2009). Available online at: https://www.gov.cn/govweb/gongbao/content/2009/content_1439293.htm (accessed Oct 26, 2024).
    1. National essential medicines list. 2012 ed. Beijing: Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China. (2012). Chinese. Available online at: https://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2013-03/15/content_2355145.htm (accessed Oct 26, 2024).

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources