ArticleBMC health services research2024
Drivers of vulnerability to medicine smuggling and combat strategies: a qualitative study based on online news media analysis in Iran.
Article in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Actor-network and stakeholder analysis in preventing health goods smuggling in Iran.Globalization and health · 2025Article
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3 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMedicine smuggling poses a serious public health threat, limiting patients' safe and timely access to this essential resource. Thus, this study aims to identify the factors contributing to the vulnerability to medicine smuggling and propose effective strategies to combat this issue in Iran.
methodsAn analysis of news media was conducted using qualitative content analysis. News text items related to medicine smuggling were retrieved from various online news sources between March 21, 2017, and May 21, 2023. To select health-oriented and general online news stations, news agencies, and newspapers, the purposeful sampling method with a maximum variation strategy was used. The selected sources included Mehr News Agency, Khabar Online, Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA), Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Hamshahri, Donya-e-Eqtesad newspapers, Webda, Sepid Online, and Iran's Food and Drug Administration News Agency (IFDANA). All data coding was manually done using Microsoft Excel software version 2016.
resultsA total of 277 news articles were found to meet the established criteria for inclusion. The analysis revealed four main themes, each with several sub-themes, that shed light on the factors that drive vulnerability and the strategies to combat medicine smuggling. These themes are the economic environment, government and stewardship, information technology systems, and socio-cultural factors. The economic environment emerged as the most significant theme, encompassing medicine selection, reimbursement, and procurement, all of which affect the smuggling of pharmaceuticals in Iran.
conclusionTo combat medicine smuggling, it is important to adjust policies based on the identified vulnerabilities. Effective strategies to reverse pharmaceutical smuggling include capacity building of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, implementing regulated and enhanced supervisory and rulemaking policies, strengthening health insurance, improving e-infrastructure, and increasing public awareness through collaborative approaches involving various stakeholders within and outside the health system.
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