Differences in the availability of medicines for chronic and acute conditions in the public and private sectors of developing countries.

Objective: To investigate potential differences in the availability of medicines for chronic and acute conditions in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: Data on the availability of 30 commonly-surveyed medicines - 15 for acute and 15 for chronic conditions - were obtained from facility-based surveys conducted in 40 developing countries. Results were aggregated by World Bank country income group and World Health Organization region.