Políticas Públicas para o acesso aos medicamentos no Brasil: o caso da Farmácia Popular

Abstract

In 2004, the Brazilian Federal Government introduced the “Brazilian Popular Pharmacy Program”, as an alternative means to facilitate access to medicines, aiming to extend this acess to more patients and regions, and also, to reduce family expenditures, mainly for popular class families, who are users of the private health system, but have difficulties buying medicines in the regular market. The Program is focused on the distribution of low cost essential medicines, for the treatment of non-communicable chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, cholesterol and others. It is based on a copayment model, in which the cost of medicines is partially paid by the government, while the consumer pays the difference. At first, it was based on distribution by government pharmacies, and since 2005, this model has been extended through partnership, mainly with state and district authorities. In 2006, the government innovated towards a growth strategy, grounded on partnership with private retailers, operating through a reimbursement system by the Ministry of Health. In 2011, the government established the free of charge distribution of medicines with priority, for the pathologies of diabetes, hypertension and asthma. This analysis contributed to identifying the scope and limitations of the Program, as an alternative means of access to medicines in Brazil. Data were obtained by means of bibliographic and documentary research and were complemented by interviews with the stakeholders. It was observed that the program’s target audience also includes a significant percentage of public health system users, who should be making use of conventional public pharmaceutical assistance, which distributes medicines free of charge. This reveals inadequacies in the public pharmaceutical assistance, as well as the Program’s advantages as an efficient logistics system, which ensures medicine availability among the population and easy access to pharmacies. Although the Program was considered important as an alternative means, operational and strategic improvements are suggested, making this Program more efficient to facilitate the access of medicines to the Brazilian population