The Availability and Affordability of Cardiovascular Medicines for Secondary Prevention in Tehran Province (Iran)

Availability and affordability of medicines are crucial to achieving success in prevention programs, particularly in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the availability and affordability of cardiovascular medicines for secondary prevention in Tehran province of Iran. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Tehran province in 2015, using the 2nd edition of the World Health Organization/Health Action International methodology. Data on the availability and affordability of 21 selected cardiovascular medicines were collected from the public and private healthcare sectors. A total of 120 facilities were included in the survey and the medicines in this survey were both original and lowest-price generic. Lowest-price generic equivalent medicines were highly available (> 80%) in almost all pharmacies of both public and private sectors, while the availability of original brand medicines was highly poor in public and private pharmacies. The median price ratios were 0.72 to 0.76 for generic medicines. The treatment of cardiovascular diseases with lowest-price generic equivalent medicines was generally affordable; moreover, less than a single day's wage was adequate to purchase a monthꞌs supply of the lowest priced generic of the surveyed medicines. The availability of the selected generic medicines for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases is high in both public and private sectors and they were affordable for low-paid unskilled government workers in the province. The result of this study demonstrates that the supply policies pertaining to generic medicines have been implemented successfully.