Editorial: Challenges of pharmacoeconomics in global health arena-Contemporary momentum in the early 2020s

The need to update Ethiopia's national health and medicine policies: essential tools for informed decision-making in healthcare and the pharmaceutical sectors

Background

Health policy involves decisions at national, state, and local levels to achieve healthcare goals, with medicine policy being a critical component that requires integration and potential reform. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends periodic monitoring and evaluation of the National Medicine Policy (NMP) under the National Health Policy (NHP), ideally every 2 to 3 years or comprehensively every 4 to 5 years.

Objectives

This perspective aims to urge the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Ethiopia to update its national health and medicine policies to address emerging health issues, advancements in medical treatment, and global health agendas. It also aims to initiate a name change for Ethiopia's "NDP" to "NMP" to focus on medicines for therapeutic purposes while avoiding confusion with the term "drug."

Methods

A descriptive critical evidence synthesis was used to identify indicators and situations for monitoring, evaluating, and updating national health and medicine policies. The author presented published evidence to support the perspective that Ethiopia's national health and medicine policies need to be updated.

Results

Ethiopia's national health and medicine policies have remained unchanged for over three decades, despite their critical role in guiding healthcare decision-making and reflecting political commitment to advancing healthcare goals through regular monitoring and evaluation. This underscores an urgent need to update these policies and periodically monitor and evaluate them at prescribed intervals: every 2 to 3 years for minor changes or every 4 to 5 years comprehensively. Additionally, the title "National Drug Policy (NDP)" should be changed to "NMP" to better reflect its focus on safe, effective, and approved medicines for healthcare, while avoiding negative associations with the general term "drugs".

Conclusion

Given the dynamic nature of the health and pharmaceutical sectors, it is crucial for Ethiopia to urgently update the NHP and NMP and change the NDP title to "NMP" to eliminate ambiguity, emphasize approved medicines, and align with global best practices.

Big Data-Enabled Analysis of Factors Affecting Medical Expenditure in the Cerebral Infarction of a Developing City in Western China

Purpose

Cerebral infarction (CI) has been one of the leading causes of death in China since 2017, and controlling the medical expenses of this disease is an urgent issue for the Chinese government. This study aims to explore the important factors that affect the hospitalization expenses of CI patients and to provide a scientific basis for establishing a reasonable reimbursement mechanism and hospitalization expense standard for CI patients.

Methods

Data from 109,314 inpatients from the Healthcare Security Administration of Chengdu in western China from January 2016 to December 2018 were utilized. Descriptive statistical analysis was used for variable characteristic analysis. The Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for single-factor analysis, and multiple linear stepwise regression was used for single-factor analysis and multiple-factor analysis.

Results

This study found that the average direct economic burden of CI in Chengdu was approximately 10,569 Chinese yuan (CNY), about 1450 US dollars, the average length of stay (LOS) was 14.47 days, the indirect economic burden was approximately 2817 CNY, and the total economic burden was 13,386 CNY for a CI inpatient. Gender, insurance type, grade of medical institution, the level of payment type, age, LOS, and complications and comorbidities (CCs) are the most important factors affecting CI medical costs.

Conclusion

Citizens should improve their lifestyle habits to reduce disease risk to avoid the associated medical and economic burdens. Hospitals should improve their medical technology to decrease the LOS and reduce direct medical costs. The government should actively promote the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment policy to reduce the waste of medical resources caused by low-acuity patients going to high-level hospitals for treatment. The National Healthcare Security Administration should optimize the medical insurance payment method and establish a corresponding mechanism to reduce the occurrence of excessive medical treatments such as overuse.