Background and objective:
Information about the real prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Brazil, and their rate of treatment and control, remains scarce. Despite the evolution of technologies for medical treatment, some sections of the population do not adhere to it. This study therefore aims to analyse the effect of the ‘There’s a People’s Pharmacy Here’ Programme _(Programa Aqui Tem Farmácia Popular_: ATFP) on hypertension and diabetes-related mortality.

Methods:
An individualized, descriptive study involving all the dispensation of medication, from 2001 to 2017, for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension, to the users of the Primary Healthcare Network and the pharmacies accredited by the ATFP Programme. We calculated travel patterns from user households to dispensing sites, adopting 3 measures (800, 1,000 and 1,250 metres) to infer “geographically hard to access.” To obtain the differences and their respective significance, we applied Pearson’s Chi-Squared test. Estimates of Prevalence Ratios (PR) were used to ascertain the associations between the independent variables.

Results:
Municipality-controlled multivariate models maintained a protective effect for double medication dispensing for both diabetes (9%) and hypertension (11%). Analysis per region enabled confirmation that, for both pathologies, the region with the greatest protective effect against deaths with double medication dispensing was the Southeast. We noted that large municipalities had the most widespread pattern for a reduction in deaths from diabetes, although the same behaviour was not identified for hypertension cases.

Conclusion:
In general, it was possible to identify the protective effect of double medication dispensing on admissions and deaths related to diabetes and hypertension, and to determine that the ATFP programme acts as a complementary model to the primary healthcare network. The study outlines the need for a general diagnosis of access to medication and participation in the ATFP program.