Utilization of pharmacies and pharmaceutical drugs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(86)90038-9

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 22, Issue 6, 1986, Pages 653-672

https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(86)90038-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper examines recent developments in the pharmaceutical retail trade in socialist Ethiopia and presents the results of two surveys on pharmacy utilization in Addis Ababa. Surveys were carried out in 6 private and 5 government pharmacies. Objectives are: (1) to examine drug retailer utilization in relation to locational, transportation and retailer-related factors: (2) evaluate the role of socioeconomic factors in pharmacy and drug utilization; and (3) determine distance decay associated with clients' trip origins and the location of their residences as indicators of service areas. Although most clients originated in Addis Ababa, large numbers came from rural areas, especially in the pharmacies near large markets and other shopping areas in the inner city. Centrally located retailers also served more Addis Ababa residents and larger sections of the city than peripherally located retailers, largely due to a combination of urban structure, distribution of health care facilities, prevailing drug shopping behavior and population distribution. Government pharmacies had larger service areas and served larger numbers of clients than private pharmacies, primarily due to lower prices and greater availability of pharmaceuticals. Mean distance from pharmacies to places of origin of trips was smaller than mean distance from pharmacies to residences of the same clients. Similarly, distance decay gradients were steeper for the former than the latter in the 4 pharmacies studied in the second part of the survey, indicating the greater suitability of origin of trip as a parameter of service area. Type and price of drugs purchased were associated with socioeconomic factors, particularly level of education and housing/environmental health conditions in two districts, but there was little variation in the small number of drugs purchased per client. Several forms of drug-purchasing behavior of pharmacy clients and selling practices of private retailers are described as adaptive responses to prevailing economic and sociopolitical conditions. The study concludes that population-based studies of disease occurrence and health behavior are needed to better evaluate the health needs of the population for the planning of additional drug retailers in Addis Ababa's suburban districts.

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Utilization of pharmacies and pharmaceutical drugs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

World Health Organization Document EB67/PC/WP/3

Technical Report Series, No. 685

Technical Report Series, No. 615

Med. Anthrop. Q.

Med. Anthrop. Q.

Ethiop. J. Hlth Dev.

J. Ethiop. Stud.

Applied Medical Geography

Health Care Delivery: Spatial Perspectives

Health care practitioner use in Calabar, Nigeria

Soc. Sci. Med.

Distance and the utilization of health facilities in rural Nigeria

Soc. Sci. Med.

Guidelines for Health Planners

UNIDO Document UNIDO IOD

Pharmaceutical and health problems in the least developed countries

Pharmacy Int.

Comprehensive Health Services Directory 1974 E.C. (1981/82 G.C.)

Cost-effectiveness: are studies needed?

Traditional Medicine and Health Care Coverage

The interface of dual systems of health care in the developing world: toward health policy initiatives in Africa

Soc. Sci. Med.

Ethnomedicine linking

Soc. Sci. Med.

The reinterpretation of Western pharmaceuticals among the Mende of Sierra Leone

Soc. Sci. Med.

Commercial pharmaceutical medicine and medicalization: a case study from El Salvador

Cult. Med. Psychol.

Pharmaceuticals for Primary Health Care: The Supply and Utilization of Drugs in the Third World

National drug policies

Wld Hlth Org. Chron.

Anthropology and pharmaceuticals in developing countries

Med. Anthrop. Q.

Anthropology and pharmaceuticals in developing countries

Med. Anthrop. Q.

Bitter Pills: Medicines and the Third World

The illigal distribution of western medicines in developing countries: pharmacists, drug pedlars, injection doctors and others.

A bibliographic exploration

Med. Anthrop.

Anthropology and pharmaceuticals in developing countries

Med. Anthrop. Q.

Anthropology and pharmaceuticals in developing countries

Med. Anthrop. Q.

Cross-National Stusy of Health Systems

The three world systems of medical care: trends and prospects

Wld Hlth Forum

Medical care in Ethiopia

Trans. R. Soc. Trop. med. Hyg.

Development of basic health services in Ethiopia

Ethiop. Observ.

Some observations about health development in three African countries: Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania

Soc. Sci. Med.

Introduction: the Ministry of Health and Health Development

Ethiop. J. Hlth Dev.

Comprehensive Health Services Directory 1974 E.C. (1981/82 G.C.)

Comprehensive Health Services Directory 1974 E.C. (1981/82 G.C.)

Reaching the people: some issues in the utilization of selected hospitals in Addis Ababa

Ethiop. J. Hlth Dev.

Negarit Gazeta

The geography of pharmacies, druggist shops and rural medicine vendors and the origin of customers of such facilities in Addis Ababa

J. Ethiop. Stud.

Workshop on health opens in Nazareth

Ethiopian Herald.

The drug business and its implications for the development of health in Ethiopia

Ethiop. J. Dev. Res.

The Ethiopianization of pharmacies (1935–1983 G.C.)