ArticlePloS one2014
The role of evidence in the decision-making process of selecting essential medicines in developing countries: the case of Tanzania.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fortifying essential medicines supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa - the curious cases of Kenya and Uganda.Global health action · 2026Review
- Global norms, local institutions: a controlled comparative case study of WHO essential medicines policy adoption in Eastern Europe.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Rarely listed essential medicines in 158 national lists.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Assessing the national essential medicines list selection processes: Instrument development and testing.PloS one · 2026Article
- Supply, demand and use of economic evidence in vaccine policymaking in Africa: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Parkinson disease treatments on national essential medicines lists, African Region.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Article
- Economic assessment of potential changes to essential medicines for diabetes in Uganda.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- WHO/INRUD prescribing indicators among tertiary regional referral hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: a call to strengthen antibiotic stewardship programmes.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2023Article
- Mandatory health insurance for the informal sector in Tanzania-has it worked anywhere!Frontiers in health services · 2023Article
- Developing a tool to assess the skills to perform a health technology assessment.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Article
- National adaptation and implementation of WHO Model List of Essential Medicines: A qualitative evidence synthesis.PLoS medicine · 2022Review
- Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Implementing essential diagnostics-learning from essential medicines: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Health technology assessment in sub-Saharan Africa: a descriptive analysis and narrative synthesis.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2021Article
- The role of government agencies and other actors in influencing access to medicines in three East African countries.Health policy and planning · 2021Article
- A comparison of national essential medicines lists in the Americas.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2020Article
- Fall History and Associated Factors Among Adults Living With HIV-1 in the Cape Winelands, South Africa: An Exploratory Investigation.Open forum infectious diseases · 2019Article
- The Availability, Pricing, and Affordability of Essential Diabetes Medicines in 17 Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
- Knowledge translation for public health in low- and middle- income countries: a critical interpretive synthesis.Global health research and policy · 2018Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInsufficient access to essential medicines is a major health challenge in developing countries. Despite the importance of Standard Treatment Guidelines and National Essential Medicine Lists in facilitating access to medicines, little is known about how they are updated. This study aims to describe the process of updating the Standard Treatment Guidelines and National Essential Medicine List in Tanzania and further examines the criteria and the underlying evidence used in decision-making.
methodsThis is a qualitative study in which data were collected by in-depth interviews and document reviews. Interviews were conducted with 18 key informants who were involved in updating the Standard Treatment Guidelines and National Essential Medicine List. We used a thematic content approach to analyse the data.
findingsThe Standard Treatment Guidelines and National Essential Medicine List was updated by committees of experts who were recruited mostly from referral hospitals and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Efficacy, safety, availability and affordability were the most frequently utilised criteria in decision-making, although these were largely based on experience rather than evidence. In addition, recommendations from international guidelines and medicine promotions also influenced decision-making. Cost-effectiveness, despite being an important criterion for formulary decisions, was not utilised.
conclusionsRecent decisions about the selection of essential medicines in Tanzania were made by committees of experts who largely used experience and discretionary judgement, leaving evidence with only a limited role in decision-making process. There may be several reasons for the current limited use of evidence in decision-making, but one hypothesis that remains to be explored is whether training experts in evidence-based decision-making would lead to a better and more explicit use of evidence.
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