Estimating Pharmaceutical Expenditure Using the System of Health Accounts 2011 Framework: Draft Resource

Despite constituting a large portion of health spending, detailed data on pharmaceutical expenditure (PE) are often left out of expenditure estimates. This resource provides a practical approach that countries can use to track PE using the System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011 framework (OECD, Eurostat and WHO 2017). In doing so, the document discusses the use of the classification FP.3.2.1 Pharmaceuticals to estimate expenditure specifically on pharmaceutical commodities used in the process of provision of health care. It also aims to increase the capacity of stakeholders to use PE data for decision-making by suggesting indicators that can be developed using PE data, and the types of policy questions those indicators can inform.

This resource was jointly authored by Shipra Srihari (USAID LHSS Project/Abt Associates), Andre Zida (USAID MTaPS Program/Results for Development), Kwesi Eghan (USAID MTaPS Program/Management Sciences for Health (MSH)), and Heather Cogswell (USAID LHSS Project/Abt Associates). The LHSS Project and MTaPS Program teams are grateful for the collaboration of colleagues from the World Health Organization, including the Health Accounts team in Geneva and financing and pharmaceutical experts in both Geneva and the regional offices. The teams would also like to acknowledge guidance and review from Karishmah Bhuwanee (Abt Associates) and Laurel Hatt (Results for Development) and our USAID activity managers, Scott Stewart and Lisa Ludeman.

This resource contributes to efforts by the World Health Organization to develop global guidance on tracking of PE.