National Drug Policies in Thailand: Evolution and Lessons for the Future

Abstract

Many countries encountered various pharmaceutical problems which challenged them to find long-term solutions to achieve the goal of access to medicines. To address these issues, the World Health Organization suggested that countries generate and implement a National Drug Policy (NDP), and launched guidelines to assist the process of policy development. In most countries, the NDP has similar key objectives of access, quality, and rational use of medicines; but some local specific objectives might differ. This review explores the historical development of NDPs in Thailand using information from both public and not-public sources, analyzes outcomes and challenges, and provide recommendations for further development. The findings show that national drug policies in Thailand were initially developed in 1981 and evolved over time until getting the current NDP in 2017. The NDP development took existing pharmaceutical problems and national strategies of the Royal Government into account in order to create a policy which were sensitive to local situations and national directions. The evolution from the first to the fourth NDP has strengthened its platform to increase continuity and development of special projects and interventions to solve the problems in the drug system. Although NDPs in Thailand have been quite successful, there are stll some strategic inadequacies which require further support and participation from stakeholders and additional resources for implementation. Furthermore, a competent advocacy body and a Secretariat Office should be established to bolster policy coordination and implementation progressively.