Survey of Medicine Availability and Affordability in Mandalay, Myanmar

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out in six townships of Mandalay District, Myanmar in March, 2012. The main purposes of this study were to identify the availability and affordability of selected medicines. Methodology developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) was used. Price and availability data of 30 medicines were collected from 30 private sector retail pharmacies, 20 dispensing doctors, 10 drug stores in public hospitals, and 30 drug stores in private hospitals. The daily wage of the lowest paid unskilled government worker was used to gauge the affordability of medicines. In all sectors, the availability of the originator brand was extremely low (<4%). Overall, availability of the generic was moderate (50-66%). People cannot afford to buy the highest price generic in any sector. However, they can afford some kinds of lowest price generic, more in the private retail sector than in other sectors.