Government policies for affordable and accessible quality medicines in the Philippines: did the poor benefit?
Date
2012-04
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Abstract
Medicine prices in the Philippines are one of the most expensive in the world. This is the reason why the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 was passed. The goal of the said policy is to increase the accessibility of quality medicines to everyone especially the poor as a part of the national health policy of the country. The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey 2008 is used to empirically test the relationship of government's efforts to reduce the prices of medicines and the social awareness and decision to buy. The study shows that the poor has the greatest tendency to buy the cheaper quality medicines from the government's programs given that they are aware of the existence of such programs. The rich will most likely not subscribe to these programs because they will prefer the branded medicines and other services provided by the private sector. The success of government policies to make quality medicines affordable and accessible is dependent on how the government educates its people especially the poor about the programs they provide. The success of the policy is determined by the increase in the number of households who buy the more atlordable quality medicines.
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Keywords
Medicine, Affordable quality medicine, Government policy