Global norms, local institutions: a controlled comparative case study of WHO essential medicines policy adoption in Eastern Europe
Kristina Jenei, Elias Mossialos, Huseyin Naci · 2026
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Description
Kristina Jenei and two colleagues compare how two Eastern European neighbours absorbed the World Health Organization's rules for choosing which medicines the state pays for. The WHO pushes five principles, from a national essential medicines list to watching how listed drugs are used. Both Ukraine and Moldova adopted formal lists matching the guidance. Their 2026 study, framed by policy-transfer theory and a multiple-streams lens, asks why the resemblance ends at the paper.
Ukraine wired the principles into its financing and procurement machinery; Moldova barely did. Sustained donor engagement, reform momentum, and domestic champions explain the Ukrainian depth. In Moldova, thin institutional capacity and stop-start donor support left adoption shallow. The authors conclude that global guidance changes systems only when long technical support, local leadership, and continuity mechanisms travel with it. Paper adoption, they warn, is the easy part.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Kristina Jenei, Elias Mossialos, Huseyin Naci |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 84211 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |