Assessment on Import Status of Registered Medicines in Ethiopia and its Associated Factors: Pharmaceutical Importers’ Perspective
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Date
2021-08
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Introduction: Studies show that many registered medicines are not marketed in a
number of countries due to various reasons. In Ethiopia, the extent of the importation and
associated factors for not importing registered medicines was not studied. Therefore, the
aim of the study was to assess the import status of registered medicines and identify
associated factors at the pharmaceutical importers level, in Ethiopia
Methods: Parallel mixed methods were used in the study. The quantitative part involved
the one-year imported medicines (January 9, 2018-January 8, 2019) at the port of entries
/2804/ and the qualitative part used semi-structured interviews. All registered medicines
in the study period were included in the study and their importation status was checked at
the port of entry by using a registry template. Ten pharmaceutical importers which
registered 53% of the medicines were interviewed. The quantitative data were coded,
entered into a data entry template on Microsoft excel, and relevant descriptive statistics
was done whereas the inductive thematic analysis method was used to analyze the
qualitative data.
Results: Of registered medicines (n=2,804) by the regulatory authority between January
9, 2018- January 8, 2019, only 1,061 (37.7%) medicines were imported. Major factors for
the non-importation of registered medicines were: marketing-related, foreign currency-
related, manufacturing-related, and government-related factors.
Conclusions and recommendations: Most of the registered medicines are not imported.
Establishing an organized imported medicines database, establishing a national
notification system for medicine shortages, creating a conducive environment for the
importation of the registered medicines, and improving currency allocation are
recommended.
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Keywords
Medicines, import status, registered medicines, mixed methods, Ethiopia.