Pharmaco-economics in a Failing Economy
by Olusanya Akanmu
Nigeria’s economy is faced with an unprecedented recession. The inflation rate is spiking through an unpredictable and undesirable steep slope. The price of medications just like almost every commodity in the market has ballooned and does not look like stabilising soon. Also, the dynamics of the country’s health sector suggest a weak and inefficient health insurance system. This has plunged a chunk of the populace into an unfortunate situation. In fact, the current state of things can be described as a large vicious cycle.
First, the purchasing power of many people has reduced so patients have to choose between two needs at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy — food and medications. It is not difficult to see the counter-productivity in this as many medications are to be taken with a decent quantity of food to elicit their pharmacological effects. For the relatively healthy segment of the populace, the situation can be described as sitting on a keg of gunpowder because these days, a chronic illness like diabetes can change a family’s fortune. It’s even more unpleasant to imagine what cancer and chemotherapy would do in the pocket of the average Nigerian.
The pharmacist can play a huge role to ease the financial burden on people using medications. The concept of pharmaco-economics evaluates the cost (expressed in monetary terms) and effect (which is usually defined as the efficacy or the enhanced quality of life of the patients). There is no doubt that cost has become critical. At times, a brand with a cheaper price is as efficacious as an expensive brand. Pharmacists can encourage policy formulators and decision-makers in medical centres and clinics to stock tested and trusted cost-effective medicines. Also, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle to prevent some of these illnesses has to be intensified by pharmacists and other health professionals.
It is important to highlight that pharmaco-economics treads a delicate path in a country like Nigeria. This is because of drug peddlers who in their mischief present substandard, adulterated, and fake substances as quality, efficacious and affordable medicines. The pharmacist must be able to identify the increasingly blurred line between quality and substandard medicines and distinguish between them accurately.
On a final note, it is impossible to deny the dilemma that pharmacists (particularly community pharmacists) face in a capitalist economy like ours. At times, it feels as though there is a conflict in the roles — the pharmacist as the clinician and the pharmacist as the businessperson. Eventually, the ability to effectively discharge both roles is an invaluable skill in the practice of the profession.
