The availability of drugs: what does it mean in Ugandan primary care
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Date
2003
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Health Policy
Abstract
Availability of drugs is often considered the most important element in quality of health care in rural African settings.
Using material collected through mainly qualitative methods, this article examines drug availability in six primary
health care units in southeastern Uganda. Emphasis is on the differing perspectives of three categories of actors: health
planners/managers; health workers; and users of health services. The main concern is the availability of choroquine and
penicillin, especially injectable forms, and the needles and syringes for administering them. Health sector reforms have
changed the conditions for managing, supplying, and using drugs through decentralization, user fees, and privatization.
Patients were dissaatisfied when they were not able to obtain all drugs prescribeddd at the health unit. Government
health units both compete with, and use, local commercial sources of drugs. They need to attract patients and, with user
fees, they are more able to supplement the drug kit supplies provided through the Ministry of Health. There is a need to
revise policy in light of the new situation. Dialogue and realism are needed in order to create policies that respect both
good medical treatment standards and the concerns of frontline workers and their patients. The exercise of rethinking
the meaning of drug availability in primary health care calls for methodologies examining the chenging context of
health care and the positions of different categories of actors, at national and district setting, to appreciate gaps existing
between drug policy and practice.
Description
Keywords
Drugs, Ugandan primary care
Citation
Jitta, J., Whyte, S. R., & Nshakira, N. (2003). The availability of drugs: what does it mean in Ugandan primary care. Health Policy, 65(2), 167-179. doi:10.1016/S0168-8510(03)00003-4