BACKGROUND Strengthened national health systems are necessary for effective and sustained expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART and its supply chain management in Uganda are largely based on parallel and externally supported efforts. The question arises whether systems are being strengthened to sustain access to ART. This study applies systems thinking to assess supply chain management...

dissolution and oral bioavailability of different formulations of two essential drugs marketed in Tanzania, the drug content and drug release from all the tested ciprofloxacin formulations were within USP-24 requirements and remained stable during storage at simulated tropical conditions. Oral bioavailability was also not influenced by tropical conditions. The stability of essential drugs (ampi...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of a performance-based financing scheme on maternal and neonatal health service quality in Malawi. METHODS We conducted a non-randomized controlled before and after study to evaluate the effects of district- and facility-level performance incentives for health workers and management teams. We assessed changes in the facilities' essential drug stocks, equipment...

BACKGROUND Prescribing potentially harmful drugs and omitting essential drugs to older patients is a common problem because they take so many medications. In this study, our goal was to identify potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and potential prescribing omissions (PPOs) using Screening Tool of Older Persons' potentially inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) and Screening Tool to Alert...

This paper assesses the relevance and time-to-expiry of pharmaceutical donations by the USA by means of a convenience sample of two private voluntary organizations. Data were collected on 16,566 donations shipped between 1994 and 1997 for the two organizations to a total of 129 countries. For three field study countries (Armenia, Haiti, and the United Republic of Tanzania), between 37% and 65% ...

To obtain preliminary data on the drug supply management system in Ethiopia, selected facilities were assessed for the availability of essential drugs and commodities for malaria, TB and HIV. Of the 48 surveyed hospitals and health centers, 9 (19%), 9 (19%), and 10 (21%) did not have malaria, TB, or HIV drugs, respectively. Similarly, of 27 health posts, 9 (33%) and 6 (22%) did not have rapid d...