Measuring Equity in Access to Pharmaceutical Services Using Concentration Curve; Model Development

Abstract

This paper has two objectives. First, it establishes a model for scoring the access to pharmaceutical services. Second, it develops a model for measuring socioeconomic indicators independent of the time and place of study. These two measures are used for measuring equity in access to pharmaceutical services using concentration curve. We prepared an open-ended questionnaire and distributed it to academic experts to get their ideas to form access indicators and assign score to each indicator based on the pharmaceutical system. An extensive literature review was undertaken for the selection of indicators in order to determine the socioeconomic status (SES) of individuals. Experts' opinions were also considered for scoring these indicators. These indicators were weighted by the Stepwise Adoption of Weights and were used to develop a model for measuring SES independent of the time and place of study. Nine factors were introduced for assessing the access to pharmaceutical services, based on pharmaceutical systems in middle-income countries. Five indicators were selected for determining the SES of individuals. A model for income classification based on poverty line was established. Likewise, a model for scoring home status based on national minimum wage was introduced. In summary, five important findings emerged from this study. These findings may assist researchers in measuring equity in access to pharmaceutical services and also could help them to apply a model for determining SES independent of the time and place of study. These also could provide a good opportunity for researchers to compare the results of various studies in a reasonable way; particularly in middle-income countries.