ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for further comprehensive evaluation of the improvement of the accessibility of family medicines after the implementation of the new health care reform. METHODS:Sampled as 180 households from 2 urban ar-eas,2 counties and 2 rural areas in Chengdu,a questionnaire survey was adopted based on the WHO’s manual for the Household Survey to Measure Access and Use of Medicines to investigate the situation of drug use,storage and accessibility,and the results were statistically analyzed. RESULTS:Totally 180 questionnaires were sent out,179 were effectively received with effective recov-ery of 99.44%. In the terms of medicines taken for the acute illness,there were more than 60% rural households obtained drugs from the public health care facilities,while more than 60% counties households purchased drugs in public medical and health insti-tutions;in the terms of medicines taken for the chronic illness,the proportion of households reporting a chronic illness who did not take any medicines was low(3.80%);in terms of medicines storage,the proportion of households without reserve drugs was low (13.41%). In terms of drug accessibility,the proportions of respondents who agreed that the location and opening hours of their public healthcare facility were convenient were high;there was no situation for“patients did not take prescribed drugs because med-icines were not available at the healthcare facility and drug store”,while more than 95% respondents who agreed that drugs were available at their public health care facilities and drug stores;the essential medicines in the household use of chronic drugs in Chengdu accounted more than 60%;more than 85% can afford the drug costs,while the proportion of the monthly costs for acute illness and chronic illness in the total month costs was low;the health insurance coverage reached 90% in the survey households, but the proportions of households which could reimburse acute,chronic illness drug cost were lower(14.13% and 12.66%). CON-CLUSIONS:At present,the level of drug accessibility in Chengdu is high;the implementation of National Essential Medicines System has a positive effect on reducing the economic burden of chronic disease family. But there are shortcomings in the Medicare reimbursement levels and antibiotics use,it is suggested to take effective measures to solve it,such as exploring the stable and ef-fective medical insurance fund raising channels,improving the compensation level and the level of insurance reimbursement,formu-late and implement the corresponding antibacterial drugs supervision system and regulate the rational use of antibiotics in residents.