What do WHO/HAI surveys tell us about medicine availability?
Availability results are useful but should be interpreted with some caution and, ideally, an understanding of the context, particularly when examining results from another country. Several factors can affect availability results for example, the timing of the survey, or the decisions of the survey managers about which medicines to survey. Medicines on a global or regional list may not be in widespread use locally, or local prescribers and consumers may prefer another strength or form. Therefore, the median availability across medicines in a survey may not be a reliable representation of a countrys medicine situation. Nevertheless, extreme median availabilities (for example, 0%, or greater than 80%) probably tell us something meaningful. Availability results offer many potential insights. For example, when large price differences exist between the public and private sectors, differences in availability should also be noted. Likewise, in the private sector, the relative availability betw
