The Barriers to Accessibility and Availability of Essential Drugs in Public and Private Health Facilities in Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The barriers to accessibility and availability of essential drugs in public and private health facilities in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria has been studied. The study has revealed that all the pharmacists both in the private and public sector are aware of the concept of essential drugs and majority of them are of the opinion that the goals have not been achieved. The availability of essential drugs in the private sector though adequate costs of drugs are a barrier to their accessibility while in the public sector the costs of drugs are higher than in the private sector and the level of availability is poor. Factors that lead to the unavailability of these essential drugs are multifactorial. These include defects in the distribution and supply of the essential drugs to their points of usage, Inadequate funding for purchasing quantities of drugs that are needed, inability to pay suppliers so that they do not extend credit facilities to the health facilities .Drugs are wasted through expiries because correct quantification is not being done.

Keywords: Accessibility, Availability, Barriers, Health facilities and Essential drugs