Availability of Essential Medicines in Sudan

Introduction: Although availability of essential medicines is one of the most important objectives of national medicines' policies, the unavailability of essential medicines remains a major problem for poor countries. Objective: The study was carried out to measure availability and duration of out of stock of essential medicines in Sudan. Method: The study was carried out using the World Health Organization (WHO) Operational Package for Assessing and Monitoring Pharmaceutical Situation in Countries format for data collection. Results: On the average, availability of selected essential medicines at the public pharmacy, medicine stores and the private pharmacies was found to be 80.6%, 90.0% and 93.0%, respectively. The survey found the mean duration of stock out at medicines store was 26.5 days and no records available about inventory control at the pharmacy level. Among the states, the study found low availability of medicines at North Kordufan public pharmacies. The study found no statistical significant difference as far as a Developing country concerning availability of medicines at rural or urban areas (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Generally availability and stock out duration of essential medicines in the Sudan were acceptable.