Background The main purposes of primary care-based pharmaceutical services (PHCPS) in Brazil are to provide free access to medicines and pharmaceutical care to patients. Several obstacles hinder achieving their goals; thus, MedMinas Project aimed to evaluate the PHCPS, the supply system, and the use of medicines. This paper reflects on our experience designing, planning, and conducting the project, describing the issues yielded in the field and lessons learned. Methods This work consists of a mixed-methods study conducted in Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. We adopted the principles of Rapid Evaluation Methods, employing a multistage stratified sampling for the quantitative and a purposeful sampling for the qualitative components, respectively, and a documentary research. Data sources included individuals (patients and professionals), prescriptions, dispensed medicines, and policy documents collected between April and October 2019. The quantitative data described in this paper were analysed by descriptive statistics and the qualitative by Thematic Content Analysis. Results A total of 26 municipalities varying from 37,784 to 409,341 inhabitants were included. The field team spent, on average, 16 days in each location. We interviewed 1019 respondents, of which 127 were professionals and 892 patients. The participation rate varied from 92 to 100%, depending on the respondent subgroup. Most interviews lasted between 45 min and one hour. Fieldwork challenges included participants’ enrolment, field team, interview processes, and project budget. The participants provided positive feedback and five main themes emerged from the interview experience (self-awareness, sense of gratitude, research value, access to findings, and benefits of the research). Additionally, we collected copies of 1072 documents and 2070 pieces of data from prescriptions filled and medicines dispensed at the PCP. Conclusion We demonstrated the viability of conducting the MedMinas Project in an extensive geographic area within effective time frames that provided meaningful, high-quality data from multiple actors. The methods and lessons learned are valuable for researchers across various disciplines in similar urban settings in Brazil and other countries of low- and middle-income (LMIC).

Background: In 2016, the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (∼20 million people), implemented the ERAF policy (“Regionalization Strategy of Pharmaceutical Services”) in an effort to improve medicine procurement and distribution within primary care. We evaluated the impact of the policy on three main goals: price reductions, volume increases, and expansion of therapeutic options.Methods: We analyzed the procurement data from the Integrated System of Management of Pharmaceutical Services database in 2012 and 2018. We estimated the volume, drug mix, and expenditure indicators for all major therapeutic classes, and, in detail, for cardiovascular and nervous system drugs. We evaluated the expenditure drivers using decomposition analyses.Results: Overall, the expenditure increased by 14.5%, drug mix almost doubled, while the volume decreased by a third. Cardiovascular and neurological system drugs followed similar patterns. Decomposition analyses showed that prices and drug mix had positive effects while the volume had negative effects, resulting in an overall increase in expenditure.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the ERAF policy cannot be considered effective as it has not fulfilled its intended purposes so far. Strategies to address the identified problems and to build a platform for a more sustainable long-lasting policy should be put in place by the government.

Background: Essential Medicines Policy (EMP) has been adopted in Brazil to improve the provision and use of pharmaceuticals. This mixed methods study aims to bring evidence of the EMP implemented in municipalities in the context of primary care in Minas Gerais (20,997,560 inhabitants), Southeast Brazil.Methods: We analysed the core output of the EMP, i.e., the municipal essential medicines lists (MEML) and the effects of the policy on the procurement and availability of medicines. Data sources included a sample of 1,019 individuals (patients, health managers and health professionals), 995 prescriptions, 2,365 dispensed medicines and policy documents from 26 municipalities. Data were collected between April and October 2019. Document analysis and thematic content analysis were performed, and four availability indexes were estimated.Results: The findings suggest an overall lack of standardised and methodologically sound procedures to elaborate the MEML. Funding and public purchasing processes were found to be the major obstacles to medicine procurement. Only 63% of medicines were available at public community pharmacies and just 46.2% of patients had full access to their pharmaceutical treatment.Conclusion: This study reveals weaknesses in the implementation of EMP and a clear disconnection between medicines selection, procurement, and availability, the three core elements of the supply system. These findings contribute to informing future policy improvement actions to strengthen this system. Other countries aiming to advance towards universal health coverage may learn from the challenges that primary care in Brazil still needs to address.