Abstract
The aim of the study was to assess the supply chain management of anti-malarials in the five district hospitals in the Kumasi Metropolitan Area (KMA) including the Regional Medical Store (RMS) and also to assess the level of knowledge of respondents on malaria in these facilities. Cross sectional study was conducted at the facilities and purposeful sampling technique was applied to select the clients and interviewed. All the hospitals sourced their anti-malarials from the regional medical store (RMS) with tablet artemether-lumefantrine, tablet artesunate-amodiaquine, injection artesunate and sulphadoxinepyrimethamine (SP) being dispensed by all the hospitals from January to December 2015. All health facilities transport their anti-malarials from RMS by vans. The commonly known anti-malarials by respondents were tablet artemether-lumefantrine (84.08%, n=169) and tablet artesunate-amodiaquine (81.09%, n =163), with 5.47% (n =11) of respondents not knowing any type of anti-malarial. Antimalarials used for the treatment of malaria was given to 65.67% (n=132) of the clients at the hospital. Most of these anti-malarials were available at the hospitals though some facilities encountered periodic shortages and also had stocks expiring within the studied period. Respondents had fair knowledge of the side effects of a few of the anti-malarials. There is a need to ensure proper and effective supply chain management of these anti-malarials in these hospitals to maintain adequate quantities of these medications in these hospitals and RMS. Key words: Malaria, anti-malarial, supply chain management, plasmodia, female anopheles mosquito.
Highlights
Malaria is a major global problem and has devastating effects on health and development, especially on the poor and marginalized in most low-income countries
Due to the financial and health importance of malaria as a major public health problem, a good supply chain management system should be the key to ensuring that, anti-malarials are available at the point of care (Williams et al, 2004; Amin et al, 2007; Hussain et al, 2013)
All the hospitals sourced their antimalarials from the regional medical store
Summary
Malaria is a major global problem and has devastating effects on health and development, especially on the poor and marginalized in most low-income countries. Malaria is one of the leading causes of illness in Ghana and the major cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among the under 5 years and pregnant women. It accounts for over 3 million outpatient visits to public health facilities annually (Steketee et al, 2001). Chain management includes all the activities that must take place to get the right product to the right consumers hand in the right quantity at the right time. A highly managed and functioning supply chain system should be in place to help deliver quality products on time to end users (Croxton et al, 2002)
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