Abstract:
This study focused on "Factors influencing availability of essential drugs in primary
health care facilities in Kisarawe district, Coast Region". It was conducted in a good
spirit of assisting District Health Management Team to improve drug availability in
public primary health care facilities. Previous research findings do not provide
sufficient information regarding factors which could influence drug availability in
public primary health care facilities. A total of seven out of thirteen public primary
health care facilities in the district were selected and studied. They included the
available two health centres, and among eleven dispensaries, five were selected
randomly.
For the purpose of this study few factors were studied. Factors which were studied
included drugs supply, staffing, prescribing patterns, storage conditions, number of
users per month and availability of other partners delivering health care within the
catchment area. Availability of reference manuals sucn as the 'standard treatment
guidelines' from the Ministry of Health was also determined. Information was
collected by interviews, observations and review of records.
Study findings showed that drug availability was better in the health centres than in
the dispensaries, which possibly related to the large quantity of stock supplied to
health centres, less number of users per month, 'presence of better storage conditions
. and presence of other alternatives of health care delivery (such as missionary
dispensary and medical stores).
Vll
Although dispensaries had higher proportion of correct prescriptions (91.2%)
compared to the health centres (81.5%), they recorded low drug availability. This
could be attributed to the fact that dispensaries received low quantity of stock than
health centres, had more users per month compared to health centres, had poor
storage conditions as some facilities stored drugs at home, and lacked alternative
options for health care delivery within their catchment areas.
In both groups of primary health care facilities, drug supply was regular and none of
the facilities had the 'standard treatment guideline' from the Ministry of Health.
The cold chain was operating in the health centres only. In the dispensaries visited
the cold chain was about to. collapse as there was either no kerosene or the
refrigerators needed repair.
Analysis of prescriptions from Health Management Information System (HMIS)
record books for the previous six months showed that the higher the qualification of
the prescriber the higher the proportion of correct prescriptions.
These findings were in line with the current on-going health sector reforms in
Tanzania. Unlike other studies, this study offers more information on factors studied.
Information gathered from the study and recommendations given at page 43 of this
dissertation can guide the District Health Management Team (DHMT) in improving
drug availability, staffing, and the quality of care in primary health care facilities.
