ArticleBMJ global health2018
Equity in access to non-communicable disease medicines: a cross-sectional study in Kenya.
Article in BMJ global health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- The availability, cost, and affordability of essential medicines for asthma and COPD in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review.The Lancet. Global health · 2022Pooled it
- Exploring factors affecting access to non-communicable disease medicines in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and correlates of health care utilization for non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Access to hypertension services and health-seeking experiences in rural Coastal Kenya: A qualitative study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Managing diabetes and hypertension in western Kenya: A qualitative study of experiences of patients supported by the primary health integrated care for chronic conditions (PIC4C) model of care.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Are outpatient costs for hypertension and diabetes care affordable? Evidence from Western Kenya.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2023Article
- Over-prescription of short-acting βBMC primary care · 2023Article
- Factors associated with the availability and affordability of essential cardiovascular disease medicines in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Household access to non-communicable disease medicines during universal health care roll-out in Kenya: A time series analysis.PloS one · 2022Article
- Barriers and Facilitators in Access to Diabetes, Hypertension, and Dyslipidemia Medicines: A Scoping Review.Public health reviews · 2022Article
- The role of government agencies and other actors in influencing access to medicines in three East African countries.Health policy and planning · 2021Article
- Private health care market shaping and changes in inequities in childhood diarrhoea treatment coverage: evidence from the analysis of baseline and endline surveys of an ORS and zinc scale-up program in Nigeria.International journal for equity in health · 2021Article
- Socioeconomic inequalities in hypertension in Kenya: a decomposition analysis of 2015 Kenya STEPwise survey on non-communicable diseases risk factors.International journal for equity in health · 2020Article
- Medicine Prices, Availability, and Affordability in Private Health Facilities in Low-Income Settlements in Nairobi County, Kenya.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection:2018
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionWealth-based inequity in access to medicines is an impediment to achieving universal health coverage in many low-income and middle-income countries. We explored the relationship between household wealth and access to medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Kenya.
methodsWe administered a cross-sectional survey to a sample of patients prescribed medicines for hypertension, diabetes or asthma. Data were collected on medicines available in the home, including the location and cost of purchase. Household asset information was used to construct an indicator of wealth. We analysed the relationship between household wealth and various aspects of access, including the probability of having NCD medicines at home and price paid.
resultsAmong 639 patients interviewed, hypertension was the most prevalent NCD (69.6%), followed by diabetes (22.2%) and asthma (20.2%). There was a positive and statistically significant association between wealth and having medicines for patients with hypertension (p=0.020) and asthma (p=0.016), but not for diabetes (p=0.160). Poorer patients lived farther from their nearest health facility (p=0.050). There was no relationship between household wealth and the probability that the nearest public or non-profit health facility had key NCD medicines in stock, though less poor patients were significantly more likely to purchase medicines at better stocked private outlets. The relationship between wealth and median price paid for metformin by patients with diabetes was strongly u-shaped, with the middle quintile paying the lowest prices and the poorest and least poor paying higher prices. Patients with asthma in the poorest wealth quintile paid more for salbutamol than those in all other quintiles.
conclusionThe poorest in Kenya appear to face increased barriers to accessing NCD medicines as compared with the less poor. To achieve universal health coverage, the country will need to consider pro-poor policies for improving equity in access.
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