BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities have had to adopt remote education, a strategy that caused sudden changes of routine for everyone involved in academia. OBJECTIVE: To assess the profile of medicine use by the employees of a Brazilian public university during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study at a Brazilian public university. METHODS: Employees were invited to answer an online self-administered questionnaire, containing questions on sociodemographic features, medicine use, mental health and lifestyle habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome variable was the use of medicines stratified according to occupation. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate (Poisson regression) statistical analyses were performed. RESULTS: A total of 372 employees participated in the study and use of medicine was reported by 53.2%. Among professors, suicide attempts (prevalence ratio [PR], 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-2.74), physical activity (PR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.11-2.11) and poor self-rated health (PR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01-1.66); and among technicians, decreased workload during the COVID-19 pandemic (PR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.00-1.99), excess body weight (PR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.02-1.88) and poor self-rated health (PR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.14-1.92) were positively associated with use of medicines. In addition, among technicians, engaging in physical activity (PR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.46-0.78) was a protective factor against medicine use. CONCLUSION: The profile of medicine use among these employees was similar to that of the Brazilian population. However, some associated factors may have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, thus highlighting the need to examine this topic in a longitudinal study.

Greece has a public universal health system, the National Health System (ESY) – with mandatory insurance coverage (IKA) for all working people (either employees or self-employed). On top of that, people can voluntarily have private insurance. EOPYY (National Organisation for Healthcare Provision) is the only responsible party for purchasing health services funded by public resources based on the National Social Security Fund (EFKA) contributions and state budget. There is only a limited number of drugs being exclusively provided by the public health care system, for free (EOPYY pharmacies) like the high-cost medications. Other than these, patients can buy any drug they want. National Organization for Medicines (EOF) is the regulatory authority and also responsible for pharmacovigilance of medicines, medical products, of beauty and veterinary drugs. In 2011, the pricing and reimbursement processes were separated, with pricing taking place after marketing authorization; subsequently, analysis for reimbursement by the social health insurance is allowed with inclusion in a positive list. New pharmaceutical products follow an external reference pricing system, in which the maximum ex-factory price for medicines under patent is defined by the mean of the three lowest prices for the same drug in European Union (EU) countries, this same rule being applied to biological and biosimilar medicines. Generic drugs are priced either by the mean of the three lowest prices charged in the EU or by a 50% price reduction in relation to the period in which the medication was under patent; thus, the maximum prices of the generic drugs are set at 65% of the price of the respective reference product. In 2018, the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) was introduced in the country to evaluate medications and to issue recommendations to the Ministry of Health on the inclusion or removal of products from the Positive List. As the HTA process is still being reformed in Greece, it is believed that, in the coming years, the country will have the opportunity to improve the implementation, having the linking of the HTA results with the clinical guidelines as one of the major challenges.

Objective: To describe study protocol and initial results of research project COVID-Inconfidentes. Method: This paper described the methodological procedures adopted and the prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in the population. A household survey was conducted between October and December 2020, in two historic cities of Brazil's mining region. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody was detected using the Wondfo® rapid test. The face-to-face interview consisted of administration of a questionnaire containing registration data, sociodemographic and economic variables, living habits, general health condition, mental health, sleep habits, and eating and nutrition. Results: We evaluated 1,762 residents, of which 764 (43.4 %) were in Mariana and 998 (56.6 %) in Ouro Preto. For both cities, 51.9 % of the interviewees were female, with a predominance of the age range 35 to 59 years old (47.2 %). The prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 infection was 5.5 % in both cities, 6.2 % in Ouro Preto, and 4.7 % in Mariana (p-value > 0.05). Conclusion: The study was effective to estimate the seroprevalence of infection by the virus and its findings will enable further analyses of the health conditions of the population related to social isolation and the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) are a public health problem and one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in Brazil and around the world. 1 In 2015, there were approximately 1.13 billion adults with systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) worldwide, and this number is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2025. [2][3][4] In 2017, the International Diabetes Federation estimated that 8.8% (ranging from: 7.2 to 11.3) of the world's population, ie, 424.9 million people between 20 and 79 years old, have diabetes mellitus (DM). 5,6 One important factor for the increased prevalence of CNCDs in Brazil is the recent aging of the population. This requires health actions, including the adequate provision of medications. 7,8 Drug therapy, which is necessary to control and prevent acute and chronic complications of SAH and DM, leads to lower morbidity and mortality and increased quality of life. Thus, ensuring access to medication has become a fundamental strategy in Brazilian public health policies. 9