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Pharmaceutical Sector in Palestine

An Introduction

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World

  • 252 Accesses

Abstract

Policies aimed at strengthening the delivery of safe, effective, and affordable medicines in Palestine have improved over the last decade. The capacity of both the public and private pharmaceutical sector in Palestine, particularly in the West Bank, has improved. However, several areas warrant increased attention both from policy and public health officials. These include the high cost of essential medicines, the lack of pharmacovigilance and safety regulations, and a monitoring and evaluation system to ensure prescribing practices and the use of medicines in the population to promote public health. Moreover, future policy and health delivery reforms should incorporate the government, the private sector, NGOs, and UNRWA, especially concerning the areas of payment and reimbursement systems, medicine supply chain, and the cost of medicines. This is important considering the largest payer of health care are households and that the vast majority of the population utilize services from the private sector, including local pharmacies.

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Abbreviations

ADE:

Adverse drug events

API:

Active pharmaceutical ingredients

CAM:

Complementary and alternative medicine

CDS:

Central drug store

DDCR:

Drug Control and Registration Department

Directorate:

General Directorate of Pharmacy

EML:

Essential medicines list

EU:

European Union

GDP:

Gross domestic product

GHI:

Government Health insurance

GMP:

Good manufacturing practices

IMOH:

Israel’s Ministry of Health

MOH:

Palestinian Ministry of Health

MOSA:

Ministry of Social Affairs

NGO:

Nongovernmental organizations

PCBS:

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

PHIC:

Palestinian Health Information Center

PMMS:

Palestinian Military Medical Services

PNA:

Palestinian National Authority

UNRWA:

United Nations Relief and Works Agency

USAID:

United States Agency for International Development

USD:

United States dollar $

WB:

World Bank

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dima M. Qato & Jenny S. Guadamuz

  2. Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dima M. Qato, Bashayer Al-Shehri & Reem Al-Sultan

  3. Palestinian American Research Center Fellow 2013–2014, Washington, DC, USA

    Dima M. Qato

  4. Ministry of Health, Nablus, Palestine

    Rania Shahin

  5. Institute of Minority Health Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jenny S. Guadamuz

Authors
  1. Dima M. Qato
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  2. Jenny S. Guadamuz
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  3. Bashayer Al-Shehri
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  4. Reem Al-Sultan
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  5. Rania Shahin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dima M. Qato .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, University of British Colombia Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, VANCOUVER, BC, Canada

    Ismail Laher

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ziad El- Khatib

  2. Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), World Health Programme, Québec, Canada

    Ziad El- Khatib

  3. health care management, King Saud University, RIYADH, Saudi Arabia

    Asmaa Alyaemni

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Qato, D.M., Guadamuz, J.S., Al-Shehri, B., Al-Sultan, R., Shahin, R. (2019). Pharmaceutical Sector in Palestine. In: Laher, I. (eds) Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_64-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_64-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

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