Stakeholder roles in facilitating access to essential medicines

Persistent medicine shortages have highlighted that global access to essential medicines remain problematic. Existing supply chain vulnerabilities impact health systems and risk consumer safety.

This study aimed to examine how different key stakeholders' roles facilitate access to essential medicines.

In depth interviews were conducted with 47 participants across seven stakeholder groups globally. Stakeholders included government, academics, consumer groups, non-profit organizations, hospital healthcare providers, manufacturers, and wholesaler/distributors. An inductive approach to data analysis was undertaken. A pragmatic Grounded Theory "approach" was adopted, using tools such as open, axial, and selective coding. Thematic content analysis was applied to the comprehensive theory of collaboration to provide a contextual management framework to interpret themes. Results were displayed in Ishikawa fishbone diagrams for decision making and the logistics process.

Findings showed that logistics management and therapeutic decision making were managed separately by stakeholders. Interestingly, hospital pharmacists had overlapping roles in patient care decisions and supply chain logistics, highlighting their importance as supply chain managers. Furthermore, despite the significant role that wholesalers/distributors had in managing supply disruptions and shortages, they were not involved in the decision-making process and did not participate in therapeutic selection committees. Additionally, sometimes stakeholders' intended control mechanisms contributed to increasing the complexity of the supply chain.

There is a need for improved and innovative stakeholder engagement. Expanding the role of pharmacy to include hospital formulary pharmacists and including wholesaler/distributors in therapeutic selection committee decisions could improve these collaborations, may help to align the selection and procurement of medicines processes.