Khalid Kadhem Al-Kinani

Abstract

This study is intended to assess the situation of essential medicines for the implementation of the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) guidelines in Iraq to provide a clear picture of the availability of these medicines and identifies gaps to be filled. The medicines were grouped into categories and subcategories and the assessment was begun after collecting information from the current national SRHR guidelines, global EML, national EML, registration index, and other relevant documents. The assessment included several points to be addressed about each medicine or group of medicines in the format of closed-ended questions to draw a clear picture on status of that medicine. The collected data organized in the form of informative tables and bar graphs showed that about 125 SRHR essential medicines are addressed in this study. Of these essentials medicines, 80 medicines (64%) are fairly covered in Iraq in terms of their clear recognition by the Iraqi healthcare system. The analysis also shows that only about 62% of the SRHR medicines were procured in 2019. The results suggest that more work needs to be done to provide better SRHR service in Iraq. This includes, but is not limited to, working on updating and publishing all the national management guidelines related to SRHR. It also includes revisiting the national EML and comprehensive list of medicines to provide better coverage of SRHR medicines. Finally, a robust strategy needs to be put together to harmonize the work of all the stakeholders to provide the necessary medicines when needed‎.

Citation Formats: