Abstract
BackgroundWe sought to identify what barriers and facilitators determine current perceived access to childhood cancer care in South Africa through in-depth interviews with stakeholders in South Africa's public and private sectors.MethodsQualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 key health system stakeholders, including policy-makers and regulators, medical insurance scheme informants, medicine suppliers, healthcare providers and civil society stakeholders. Identified barriers and facilitators in access to medicines and broader care were structured according to the pharmaceutical value chain (PVC).ResultsBarriers and facilitators were identified across all components of the PVC. Key barriers included (1) a lack of political commitment to childhood cancers, (2) discontinuation of essential chemotherapeutics, (3) incomplete insurance coverage for childhood cancers, (4) stock-outs of essential medicines, (5) the inability to access care, including travel to healthcare facilities and (6) low awareness on childhood cancers among primary healthcare (PHC) workers. Proposed priority interventions included pricing flexibilities, increased transparency and consistency in decision-making and healthcare spending, and improved training of PHC staff, nurses and pharmacists on childhood cancers.ConclusionThis first comprehensive study of determinants of access to medicines used in childhood cancer in South Africa provides context-specific evidence for targeted policy development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2372033 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Jul 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Funding
IRJ was awarded the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Ter Meulen Grant. The personal grant was used to cover accommodation expenses during her stay in South Africa to conduct the interviews. The KNAW had no role in the design of the study, data analysis or interpretation. The authors are grateful to the participants of this study, who generously dedicated their time to participate in an interview and provided important insights. We are grateful to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for their financial support, which made it possible for IRJ to travel to South Africa and conduct this study.
| Funders |
|---|
| Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen |
| KNAW |
Keywords
- South Africa
- access to medicines
- childhood cancer
- health systems analysis
- qualitative research
