Abstract
Non-policy recommended and mostly ineffective antimalarials were observed to be highly available and often supplied for malaria therapy, particularly in the retail outlets. The availability of policy-recommended medicines and in particular the artemisinin-based combination products, were rather poor (less than 45%). In addition very few of the outlets (less than 10%) strictly adhered to policy recommendations for the selection and supply of medicines for malaria therapy. On staff resources: greater than 55% had no professional training as pharmaceutical service providers. Majority of the staff assessed (greater than 80%), who included both professionals and non professionals could recognise malaria illness and advice clients on how to avoid further infections. However, very few (20%) and mainly professionals were adequately skilled to both recognise and manage the malaria cases as recommended by national guidelines.
Highlights
Malaria is endemic in Ghana, and contributes significantly to infant and maternal deaths
The pharmaceutical sector and in particular the medicine outlets have been identified as accessible units in the health system, where public health initiatives could be targeted to facilitate greater access to effective interventions for malaria control [1]
A cross section of the medicine outlets (n=130) from hospitals/clinics and community-based retail outlets in Ashanti and Northern regions of Ghana were selected. From these data were obtained to assess the quality of available infrastructure and settings for pharmaceutical services, the staff resources available, their practices for malaria control and the anti-malarial products available
Summary
Malaria is endemic in Ghana, and contributes significantly to infant and maternal deaths. The pharmaceutical sector and in particular the medicine outlets have been identified as accessible units in the health system, where public health initiatives could be targeted to facilitate greater access to effective interventions for malaria control [1]. Aim To assess the medicine outlets of public and private sector facilities in Ghana; investigate the availability of antimalarials and how practices within the outlets conform to national and global policy initiatives for malaria control
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