The problem of scarcity of medicines in the Algerian market: Its causes and treatment mechanisms

Medicines are an essential part of every health system, and their availability is imperative to ensure the health and safety of individuals and communities, but this goal challenges the scarcity of medicines and prevents them from being achieved. Where this problem has known its zenith in recent years coinciding with the emergence of regional, health and even economic crises, and its causes are due to global external factors, including a shortage of raw materials, which are the basis of the pharmaceutical industry, and the withdrawal of medicine from the market permanently, and other internal factors related to illegal practices of pharmaceutical monopoly. Illegal speculation and parallel sale have exacerbated the problem of scarcity, which put the state in a great challenge facing it, and to overcome it, it prompted it to develop effective national strategies and mechanisms to ensure that the problem of scarcity is addressed, on the one hand, and to achieve pharmaceutical and health security for citizens. This study aims to shed light on the internal and external causes and factors that cause scarcity, how the Algerian legislator addressed them and what mechanisms and mechanisms he adopted in eliminating the problem of scarcity of medicines and achieving abundance and stability of the drug market.