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BACKGROUND The stigma for obesity may be more serious in Asia due to lower obesity prevalence. Our study explored the lived experience through the overall social difficulties of people living with obesity in a society with relatively lower obesity prevalence. METHODS This study was a qualitative study using phenomenological methods to grasp the essence by emphasizing the meaning of life experience of obese women. The experiences of social perception due to obesity in 10 women with a body mass index (BMI) over 30kg/m2 were assessed through focus group interviews and faceto- face interviews. The qualitative research assessed four categories including: causality of obesity, perception of the social attitudes towards obesity, motives for weight management, and needs for weight management. RESULTS Significant statements in the scripts for the four categories were identified. These statements were divided into subtheme and theme. Obese people thought that their own will to control their weight, support from family and health care professionals, and social support such as national medical insurance were necessary to control obesity. CONCLUSIONS This study would benefit the recognition of severe bias in society toward obese people, which is likely to impair their quality of life. Furthermore, this social trend may not be helpful in attenuating the increasing prevalence of obesity in South Korea, and may even worsen weight control in obese people by putting more stress on them. A social support system rather than negative attitudes against obese people would be required to resolve various social issues related to obesity.

BACKGROUND External reference pricing is widely used throughout the world due to its simplicity in pharmaceutical price setting and its cost-lowering effect. Korean government has been using external reference pricing process to set maximum prices for new drugs. Its importance was increased due to recently introduced policy where certain drugs can be exempted from economic evaluation and foreign prices are the only criteria for setting price. This study was conducted to review global trend of external reference pricing and gain insights about this process. METHODS We reviewed literatures about external reference pricing and different methodologies used in different countries. Theoretical and practical aspects of external reference pricing were reviewed and discussed. RESULTS External reference pricing was being used in 26 countries out of 28 European Union member countries. Many countries from other parts of the world, such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan and Norway are using this process and the number of countries implementing this process is increasing. Although the main idea was the same, details varied between countries depending on their economic background. It is mostly used to regulate pharmaceutical prices and several studies suggested that it leads to lower prices. However, it is worried to cause a global price convergence and pharmaceutical companies can strategically use this to maximize profit. CONCLUSIONS Policy decision makers should be aware of the various external reference pricing carefully and flexibly according to their policy directions.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated types of prevention policies and activities for safe and appropriate use of medications in Korea and selected countries, in order to derive suggestions for effective prevention strategies. METHODS Literature search was conducted for peer-reviewed journals and web-site of selected institutions using key words of “safe use of medication”, “drug & abuse,” and “dug & misuse.” RESULTS In Korea, major policies operated by central governments include: separation policy between drug prescribing and dispensing, drug product serial number system, re-classification of drugs, integrated management system for narcotic drugs, designation of potential drugs for misuse and abuse, assessment for appropriateness of drug use, and drug utilization review. Local governments have various activities collaborated with healthcare professional associations. In U.S.A, National Survey of Drug Use and Health is carried out annually. Japan sets national strategy to decrease drug abuse and misuse every 5 years, focusing on prevention of drug abuse among adolescents, demolition of illegal trade of drugs, cooperation with international agencies, and prevention of recurrence of drug addict. Active roles of community pharmacies are observed in European countries. Compared to Korea, most of the foreign countries require school to educate students about preventing drug abuse. CONCLUSION Several suggestions were made to improve the effectiveness of prevention strategies in Korea. First, more class hours should be assigned to educate students for drug abuse problems. Second, national survey for drug use among the public would be useful to identify potential problems of drug abuse. Third, more active role of pharmacists in community pharmacy setting would be also helpful.

OBJECTIVE To assess the extent of participation and attitude of community pharmacists for disposal of unused medicine and to identify the associated factors. METHODS An on-line based survey was conducted with community pharmacists who were members of a web café named as “Pharmacists’ Community for Future Pharmacy.” A total of 147 pharmacists participated in the survey on a voluntary basis between August 23 and September 3, 2016. RESULTS About 81% of the respondents had a collection box for disposal of unused medicine at the community pharmacy where they were working. Only one third posted the promotion poster about collecting unused medicine. The most common frequency of educating their patients about the disposal system of unused medicine were: when patients asked about (53.7%); and when pharmacists felt necessary to educate (29.3%). Among the responding pharmacists, 74%, 70%, and 67% knew the accurate method of disposing unused medicine for PTP tablets, capsules, and syrups, respectively. Only 47.6% answered correctly for the method of disposal for all of the three types of drugs. Logistic regression analysis results showed that those with a longer job experience as community pharmacists (< 5 years vs. ≥ 10 years, odds ratio=6.123) and with graduate-level education (odds ratio=3.682) tended to more actively participate in the disposal system of unused medicine. CONCLUSION To improve the effectiveness of the disposal system of unused medicine, it appears that more active participation in and better knowledge of the system by community pharmacists are necessary.

As the population is aging and the health resources is limited, it is needed to find more efficient way to deliver health care services. The Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) allows the calculation of technical efficiency measures that can be either input or output oriented. The purpose of a DEA study is to evaluate how much input quantity can be proportionally reduced without changing the output quantities. DEA study has been widely applied to evaluate the outcome of health care system. This study examined relative efficiency in health care system for several OECD countries by applying Data Envelopment Analysis methodology using two alternative models: health care system model and quality of health care model. As a result, Korea is located in efficiency frontier, which means that Korea has performed high level of health status and high quality health care using limited health resources. In health care system model, countries which operate global budget system were proved as efficient frontier. In quality of health care model, countries which are not allowed selective contract between health insurer and physicians, and which are not allowed private service in the public hospital were proved as efficient frontier.