Geographical distribution of pharmacies in two provincial capitals in Iran

Access to medications is affected by multiple factors including distribution of pharmacies. Improvement of access to medications is of the main goals of the National Drug Policy (NDP) of Iran. The aim of this study was to assess the geographical distribution of pharmacies within two provincial capitals in Iran. Two Southwestern provincial capital cities; Khorramabad and Ahwaz, were selected. As each city in Iran is divided to several districts called municipal areas, the population percentages and the percentage of pharmacies located in each area were calculated. Areas’ pharmacy distributions were compared in order to create an overview of the present status of distribution and access to pharmacies in each area. Ahwaz and Khorramabad with populations of approximately 1,000,000 and 5,200,000 are separated into eight and three municipal areas, respectively. The results showed that there is one pharmacy for every 5,600 persons in Ahwaz and one pharmacy for every 8,155 persons in Khorramabad. Based on this study, pharmacy distribution is not proportional to population in neither Ahwaz nor Khorramabad. This can be explained by the fact that physicians are mostly concentrated in central areas attracting pharmacists to the same locations.