IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v118y2014i2p184-192.html

Foregoing medicines in the former Soviet Union: Changes between 2001 and 2010

Author

Listed:
  • Footman, Katharine
  • Richardson, Erica
  • Roberts, Bayard
  • Alimbekova, Gulzhan
  • Pachulia, Merab
  • Rotman, David
  • Gasparishvili, Alexander
  • McKee, Martin

Abstract

Pharmaceutical costs dominate out-of-pocket payments in former Soviet countries, posing a severe threat to financial equity and access to health services. Nationally representative household survey data collected in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine were analysed to compare the level of population having to forego medicines in 2001 and 2010. Subgroup analysis was conducted to assess differences between populations of different economic status, and rural and urban populations. A substantial proportion of the population did forego medicines in 2010, from 29.2% in Belarus to 72.9% in Georgia. There was a decline in people foregoing medicines between 2001 and 2010; the greatest decline was seen in Moldova [rate ratio (RR)=0.67 (0.63; 0.71)] and Kyrgyzstan [RR=0.63 (0.60; 0.67)], while very little improvement took place in countries with a higher Gross National Income (GNI) per capita and greater GNI growth over the decade such as Armenia [RR=0.92 (0.87; 0.96)] and Georgia [RR=0.95 (0.92; 0.98)]. Wealthier, urban populations have benefited more than poorer, rural households in some countries. Countries experiencing the greatest improvement over the study period were those that have implemented policies such as price controls, expanded benefits packages, and encouragement of rational prescribing. Greater commitment to pharmaceutical reform is needed to ensure that people are not forced to forego medicines.

Suggested Citation

  • Footman, Katharine & Richardson, Erica & Roberts, Bayard & Alimbekova, Gulzhan & Pachulia, Merab & Rotman, David & Gasparishvili, Alexander & McKee, Martin, 2014. "Foregoing medicines in the former Soviet Union: Changes between 2001 and 2010," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 184-192.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:118:y:2014:i:2:p:184-192
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.09.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851014002358
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.09.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kornai, Janos, 1992. "The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287766.
    2. Patricio Marquez & Mikhail Bonch-Osmolovskiy, 2010. "Action Needed : Spiraling Drug Prices Empty Russian Pockets," World Bank Publications - Reports 10211, The World Bank Group.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2002. "Job Reallocation and Productivity Growth Under Alternative Economic Systems and Policies: Evidence from the Soviet Transition," Upjohn Working Papers 02-88, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Kim, Byung Yeon, 1997. "Soviet Household Saving Function," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 30(2-3), pages 181-203.
    3. J. Kornai., 2002. "The System Paradigm," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 4.
    4. Helena Hannula, 2001. "Restructuring of the Estonian economy and the role of FDIs in it," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, in: Foreign Direct Investments in the Estonian Economy, volume 9, chapter 3, pages 91-174, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    5. Katharina Pistor & Martin Raiser & Stanislaw Gelfer, 2000. "Law and Finance in Transition Economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(2), pages 325-368, July.
    6. Leeson, Peter T. & Harris, Colin, 2018. "Wealth-destroying private property rights," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-9.
    7. Berkowitz, Daniel & DeJong, David N., 2002. "Accounting for growth in post-Soviet Russia," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 221-239, March.
    8. Barbone,Luca & Marchetti, Jr., Domenico & Paternostro,Stefano, 1996. "Structural adjustment, ownership transformation, and size in Polish industry," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1624, The World Bank.
    9. Mehrdad Vahabi, 1998. "The Relevance of the Marshallian Concept of Normality in Interior and in Inertial Dynamics as Revisited by G. SHACKLE and J. KORNAI," Post-Print hal-00629181, HAL.
    10. Pastore, Francesco & Verashchagina, Alina, 2006. "Private returns to human capital over transition: A case study of Belarus," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 91-107, February.
    11. Sergio Díaz-Briquets & Jorge F. Pérez-López, 1998. "Socialism and Environmental Disruption: Implications for Cuba," Annual Proceedings, The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, vol. 8.
    12. Jan Winiecki, 2012. "Russia and China facing the ‘Great Wall’: how to succeed in the second structural transition," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 309-325, May.
    13. Richard Pomfret, 2003. "Lessons from Economies in Transition from Central Planning," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 36(2), pages 245-252, June.
    14. Benno Torgler, 2003. "Tax Morale in Transition Countries," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 357-381.
    15. Ichiro IWASAKI & Satoshi MIZOBATA, 2018. "Post-Privatization Ownership And Firm Performance: A Large Meta-Analysis Of The Transition Literature," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 263-322, June.
    16. repec:jpe:journl:1081 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. David Parker, 1999. "Water and Waste Water Services in the Russian Federation: A Study of Four Vodokanaly," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 219-235.
    18. Georgescu, George, 2023. "The strange case of Romania’s Nicolae Ceaușescu: when the liquidation of sovereign debt results in country total damaging," MPRA Paper 117196, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Rosta, Miklós, 2013. "New Public Management: opportunity for the Centre, thread for the Periphery," MPRA Paper 68474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Battilossi, Stefano & Foreman-Peck, James & Kling, Gerhard, 2008. "European business cycles and economic policy, 1945-2007," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp08-13, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    21. Nauro F. Campos & Abrizio Coricelli, 2002. "Growth in Transition: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-836, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:118:y:2014:i:2:p:184-192. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.