Collecting data on the availability and price of medicines is a crucial step in improving access to diabetes medicines like insulin, which is vital for the survival of people with Type 1 diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes has been steadily increasing for the past three decades and is growing most rapidly in low- and middle-income countries. The percentage of deaths attributable to high blood glucose or diabetes is almost 52% in low-income countries, compared with 23% in high-income countries. Insulin and other basic diabetes medicines are reported to be scarce in low-income countries. Only 23% of low-income countries report that insulin is generally available. It is important that countries regularly survey and collect data in order to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of policies on medicines.
Using smartphones for rapid, mobile collection of medicines data
n early 2016, WHO offices in 14 low- and middle-income countries piloted a smart-phone/tablet-based app to survey the price and availability of specific medicines. In total, 190 facilities were surveyed, including tertiary hospitals, primary health clinics and private pharmacies. The app allowed data collectors to travel to facilities and enter data using their devices. The information was then transferred directly a global database. “The tool is designed to avoid duplication of efforts and potential manual entry errors which happen when data are collected on paper and then transferred to an electronic format,” said Gilles Forte, coordinator of the Policy, Access and Use team in the WHO Essential Medicines and Health Products Department. The app did pose some challenges, including limited connectivity to Wi-Fi. “WHO encourages countries to collect data regularly on availability and price of medicines. We think this is a promising start to developing a way to quickly and simply collect medicines data,” said Dr Forte. “We hope that this pilot shows that there are simple and cost-effective ways for countries to collect medicines access data.”Access to insulin closely tied to access to medicines
Early analysis of the results suggests that there is inadequate
availability of access to essential medicines to treat diabetes
including insulin, oral hypoglycaemic and cardiovascular medicines in
most countries surveyed. The survey also suggests if availability of
essential medicines generally is poor – availability of diabetes
medicines is also likely to be poor.
“The survey presents a compelling case for the strengthening of
pharmaceutical systems generally,” said Sue Hill, Senior Adviser at the
Department of Essential Medicines and Health Products. “It is important
to invest in improving capacity across the whole medicines supply chain
to improve access to medicines, including essential medicines to treat
diabetes.”
WHO is conducting analysis of the data to support activities on
improving access to medicines.