Low income, not high costs, make drugs unaffordable in Ukraine

The cost of medicines in Ukraine is the lowest in Europe, but still Ukrainians cannot afford them due to low income, according to experts of Spanish non-governmental organization CivioFoundation.

The experts presented the global investigation into access to medicines around the world on Medicamentalia website. The study compares the prices, accessibility and cost structure of 14 essential drugs in 61 countries. The study was financed by the European Journalism Center (EJC) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

CivioFoundation experts used and expanded the database drawn up by Health Action International (HAI) dedicated to strengthening medicines policy to improve public health. The database contained information on 14 essential drugs: diazepam, paracetamol, cotrimoxazole, atenolol, glibenclamide, diclofenac, ceftriaxone, captopril, amoxicillin, amitriptyline, ciprofloxacin, omeprazole, salbutamol and simvastatin. Information about prices was collected for drugs with the same content of active ingredient, dosage form and taking into account the package. The database contains information about prices of drugs for the period starting from 2001 through 2015, taking into account inflation and currency rates’ changes. The experts used the MPR (Median Price reference), the ratio of the drug price versus an international reference value set by the not-for-profit organization MSH.