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. 2024 Jun 14;79(7):676-679.
doi: 10.1136/thorax-2023-221349.

Availability, cost and affordability of essential medicines for chronic respiratory diseases in low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study

Marie Stolbrink  1   2 , Obianuju B Ozoh  3   4 , David M G Halpin  5 , Rebecca Nightingale  2 , Jamilah Meghji  6 , Catherine Plum  7 , Brian William Allwood  8   9 , Shamanthi Jayasooriya  10 , Kevin Mortimer  11   12   13 ; Chronic Respiratory Diseases Medicines Survey Investigators Collaboration
Collaborators, Affiliations

Availability, cost and affordability of essential medicines for chronic respiratory diseases in low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study

Marie Stolbrink et al. Thorax. .

Abstract

Contemporary data on the availability, cost and affordability of essential medicines for chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are missing, despite most people with CRDs living in LMICs. Cross-sectional data for seven CRD medicines in pharmacies, healthcare facilities and central medicine stores were collected from 60 LMICs in 2022-2023. Medicines for symptomatic relief were widely available and affordable, while preventative treatments varied widely in cost, were less available and largely unaffordable. There is an urgent need to address these issues if the Sustainable Development Goal 3 is to be achieved for people with asthma by 2030.

Keywords: Asthma; Asthma Pharmacology; COPD Pharmacology; Health Economist.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: KM reports advisory board fees from AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Availability and affordability of standardised (A) SABA, (B) ICS, (C) ICS-LABA (100+6 mcg/dose), (D) ICS-LABA (200+6 mcg/dose) and (E) LAMA formulations in pharmacy or HCF. Blue: available and affordable. Yellow: available but not affordable. Orange: unavailable. Grey: low-income and middle-income country (LMIC), no information. HCF, healthcare facility; ICS, inhaled corticosteroid; ICS-LABA, inhaled corticosteroid–long-acting beta agonist (formoterol) combination; LAMA, long-acting muscarinic antagonist inhaler; SABA, short-acting beta agonist inhaler.
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