Research of the current state of the market of vitamin and mineral complexes for pregnant women and information support for women during pregnancy

Abstract

Aim of the work is to study of the domestic market of vitamin and mineral complexes for pregnant women with the subsequent formation of an information array for making rational decisions on the formation of the pharmacy range of this group of products and information support for women during pregnancy. Materials and methods. The State Register of Medicinal Products of Ukraine, the Compendium Online Directory of Medicinal Products, Internet resources on drug search in Ukrainian pharmacies GeoApteka and Tabletki.ua, Internet resources of online pharmacies, wholesale offers of vitamin and mineral complexes for pregnant women for pharmacies according to the “Apteka” software package were used as research material. The marketing method, monitoring methods, logical generalization, grouping, and graphic were used in the work. Results. Based on the analysis of information sources about vitamin and mineral complexes for pregnant women, two assortment groups were formed: 99 % of the segment is represented by special food products and 1 % – by medicines. We studied the corporate structure of the market, as well as analyzed the socio-economic accessibility for consumers – pregnant women. Conclusions. The Ukrainian pharmaceutical market of vitamin and mineral complexes for pregnant women is dominated by generic multicomponent drugs of foreign production, which have medium availability for the consumer. This situation creates the preconditions for the development of own production of proper quality, which will increase their availability and reduce the economic burden on the consumer – a pregnant woman. The information support of women before the beginning of pregnancy planning and during childbirth is in satisfactory condition. This is primarily due to the need for a woman to see a doctor during pregnancy planning and constant monitoring during pregnancy. On the other hand, pharmaceutical care is not able to compensate for the lack of information on vitamin and mineral complexes for pregnant women due to the peculiarity of the woman’s condition – pregnancy, which requires medical supervision.