Adoption of the governmental affordable medicines programme by ukrainians

Ensuring that the local population has access to medicines is one of the functions of a modern democratic state and an important element of social policy. The question of the affordability of medicines to the public is extremely important. This is also due to the fact that, unlike in European countries, Ukraine did not have a system of medicines reimbursement. To date, the reimbursement Affordable Medicines Programme has been in effect since April 2017 and is applicable to patients with cardiovascular disease, bronchial asthma, and type II diabetes. In total, 258 medicines are included in the Programme, 64 of which can be obtained free of charge and the others with a small extra payment. The respondents' perceptions of the Programme were conducted through a secondary analysis based on the third wave of the «Health Index. Ukraine» which was held in 2018 by the International Renaissance Foundation, the School of Public Health of the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. This study aims to present the results of the research of the attitude of Ukrainians to the government Affordable Medicines Programme and their perception of its implementation. The total number of respondents to this survey totaled more than 10,000 household rep­resentatives. The results of the research indicate a positive assessment of the respondents who participated in the survey «Health Index. Ukraine» (76% in 2018), which is confirmed by other research of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (63% in 2019) and by international experts. The results of the survey do not allow us to draw any official conclusions about the impact of the Programme on the health of Ukrainians, but during the interview 60.6% of the respondents said that the Programme «helped improve health»; in addition, positive changes in health were indicated by the most financially vulne­rable categories of the population. It is also noted that 80–82% of prescriptions were reimbursed to Programme participants.