Drug utilisation research and medicine access in Mozambique: An overview.

Abstract

Access to medicine is fundamental to the provision of equitable health systems. However, availability of affordable quality-assured medicines continues to be poor, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Targeted efforts associated with transparency and accountability around medicine utilisation are required in LMICs to address this problem. With the increased global focus on improved access to medicines, there is a heightened imperative to understand the current landscape of medicine prescribing in these territories. In Sub-Saharan Africa, drug utilisation research is generally under-developed due to the lack of access to databases that capture prescribed drug utilisation information. The advent of private health insurance in many African countries, including Mozambique, where the average life expectancy at birth is of the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa, has created an opportunity to collect comprehensive medicine-related prescription data to facilitate monitoring and evaluation of medicine use thereby assisting in directing medicine-related policy. This overview focuses on Mozambique as one such country where future drug utilisation studies might assist in informing medicine-related health policy and improving medicine access. In addition, it explores drug utilisation as a research methodology and how it might be of assistance in meeting Mozambique's unmet needs.