National Health Insurance Fund’s Relationship to Retail Drug Outlets: A Tanzania Case Study

As countries design and launch prepayment schemes to help achieve universal health coverage, few consider the role retail drug outlets, such as pharmacies and drug shops, can play in initiatives to increase access to medicines. Tanzania’s National Health Insurance Fund has had a long relationship with such outlets, and this article presents lessons from 26 multisectoral stakeholder interviews on the successes and challenges of that relationship. Countries can learn from Tanzania’s rich experience and shared recommendations for improvements as they scale up in this area.

National Health Insurance Fund’s relationship to retail drug outlets: a Tanzania case study
By Martha Embrey, Romuald Mbwasi, Elizabeth Shekalaghe, Jafary Liana, Suleiman Kimatta, Gasto Ignace, Angel Dillip, & Tamara Hafner
Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice