IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0346140.html

Availability and affordability of essential medicines for non-communicable disease management in primary healthcare: Evidence from three municipalities in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Mary Yeboah
  • Richard Abeiku Bonney
  • Loretta Adu-Boahemaa Antwi
  • Pius Amponsah Anane
  • Obed Kwabena Offe Amponsah
  • Peter Agyei-Baffour

Abstract

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) cause 74% of global deaths, disproportionately affecting LMICs like Ghana. Chronic treatment remains hindered by medicine shortages and high costs, consuming over 50% of the minimum wage incomes. Despite Ghana’s NCD policies, supply chain gaps and price inflation persist. This study assesses access to medicine, operationally defined as availability and affordability, in three municipalities to inform reforms for Universal Health Coverage and achieve SDG 3.4 targets. Methods: This cross-sectional mixed study assessed the availability and affordability of NCD medicines in three municipalities in Ghana using WHO/HAI methods. Data on 62 medicines were collected from nine health facilities, supplemented by interviews with pharmacy managers. Results: This study assessed access to NCD medicines across three municipalities in Ghana, revealing stark disparities. Availability varied significantly by location (Oforikrom 70% vs. Juaben 48.6%, p

Suggested Citation

  • Mary Yeboah & Richard Abeiku Bonney & Loretta Adu-Boahemaa Antwi & Pius Amponsah Anane & Obed Kwabena Offe Amponsah & Peter Agyei-Baffour, 2026. "Availability and affordability of essential medicines for non-communicable disease management in primary healthcare: Evidence from three municipalities in Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(4), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0346140
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0346140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0346140
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0346140&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0346140?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
    ---><---

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0346140. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.