Abstract
Background: Effective and safe drugs should be prescribed, dispensed and used rationally. In much of the tropics drug resistance to malaria is ever increasing. Then, malaria should be treated appropriately. Objective: Evaluating the utilization pattern of anti-malarial drug in selected Ilu Aba Bora zone district, Oromiya region, south west Ethiopia. Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Health care worker and Patient was selected using stratified random sampling technique in each malarious area of Ilu Ababor zone districts. Data was compiled and analyzed by using Statistical package for Social Sciences software (SPSS) version 16.0. The explanatory factors were calculated using multiple logistic regressions. The Odd ratio of anti-malarial drug miss utilization was calculated using total number of anti-malarial drug used as the denominator. Statistical significance was defined at a level of 0.05 and data was described with a confidence interval of 95%. Results: The most prevalent type of malarial case was plasmodium vivax (40.3%), Artemeteren+Lumefantrine (Qoartem®) (42.9%) were the most prescribed for the patients. About 46.8% of prescription was prescribed out of national malarial treatment guide-line protocol. The most significant associated factors for anti-malarial miss utilization were educational level of the prescribers, profession of the dispensers, prescriber working experiences. Conclusion: New anti-malaria drug on the market in Ethiopia, Qoartem® was exposed to miss utilization and it is the signal for development of drug resistance.
Highlights
Effective and safe drugs should be prescribed, dispensed and used rationally
New anti-malaria drug on the market in Ethiopia, Qoartem® was exposed to miss utilization and it is the signal for development of drug resistance
The drug utilization was observed in six Ilu Ababor Zone Districts
Summary
Effective and safe drugs should be prescribed, dispensed and used rationally. In much of the tropics drug resistance to malaria is ever increasing. Malaria control requires an integrate approach, including prevention and prompt treatment with effective antimalarial drugs. The objective of treating uncomplicated malaria is to cure the infection as rapidly as possible. This prevents progression to severe disease, and additional morbidity associated with treatment failure. It is necessary to follow patients for sufficient time to appropriately assess cures. The duration of post-treatment follow-up is based on the elimination half-life of the antimalarial medicine being evaluated. The current recommended duration of follow-up is a minimum of 28 days for all antimalarial medicines, while it is extended for longer periods of time depending on elimination half-life. Blood or plasma levels of the antimalarial should be measured in prospective assessments so that drug resistance can be distinguished from treatment failures due to inadequate drug exposure [1,2,3]
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