Prison pharmaceutical care in the State of Pará, Brazil: determining factors for access to medicines and the right to health

Abstract Comprehensive access to health is a global issue. One-third of the population does not have regular access to essential medicines. People Deprived of Liberty (PDL) are one of those people in a situation of unequal access. Given the uniqueness of the penitentiary system, this research aimed to identify the determining factors in the access to medicines made available by the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) for the PDLs in Pará, Brazil. The applied, exploratory, qualitative research was conducted from August 2019 to February 2020 using the APOTECA framework. The APOTECA framework analysis revealed that technical, political, and administrative factors are the main hurdles to guaranteeing equal access to medicines made available by the SUS for the PDLs in Pará. The deprivation of liberty, social vulnerability, and other factors inherent to the prison reality hinder the implementation of PDLs’ right to health, and several challenges must be overcome to secure equal access to medicines.