Studiorum Awarded a Research Grant by the Regional Research Promotion Program
The CRPRC Studiorum recipient of research grant by the Regional Research Promotion Program (RRPP)
CRPRC Studiorum is one of the recipients of 2010/11 research grants, awarded by the Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP), which is managed by the University of Fribourg and financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). RRPP in the Western Balkans aims at establishing and strengthening research capacities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The research topics address and deal with specific issues at stake that fit into the regional umbrella topic “Political, Social and Economic Change in the Western Balkans”.
The topic of the project: Equity in health in Macedonia: socio-economic, financial and human security aspects will be researched in the period of March 2010 – February 2011.
The project will investigate the equity in health by looking at the socio-economic and financial aspects of access to prescription medicines in Macedonia. Socio-economic conditions determine the health within which people live. The researchers will closely examine the economic and social disparities as causes of health inequity, by looking at the case of access to prescription medicines, a right guaranteed to all Macedonians under the universal health insurance coverage. In transition economies, where governments have decided to employ privatisation and concession mechanisms to increase the healthcare system efficiency, the potentials for supplier-induced demand are considered higher, due to the enabling environment for profit-making. According to the recent analysis in the health sector, unhealthy and unethical relationships between pharmaceutical companies and prescribing doctors interrupt the equitable access to prescription medicines. In this process, the financial burden is transferred to the end users/patients who are paying out-of-pocket expenses for medications that are guaranteed with health insurance. This research will investigate the effects of policy changes affecting the regulation of prescription medicines and incentives available to healthcare providers and pharmacists on the equitable access to prescription medicines for all citizens of Macedonia. The research will focus on the effects of public spending and out-of-pocket expenditures, as a measure for equity in health in the provision of pharmaceuticals.
Additional info and useful links: