Does anti-malarial drug knowledge predict anti-malarial dispensing practice in drug outlets? A survey of medicine retailers in western Kenya

Rusk Andria, Smith Nathan, Menya Diana, Obala Andrew, Simiyu Chrispinus, Khwa-Otsyula Barasa, O’Meara, O’Meara Wendy

Description

Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya, where it is the fifth leading cause of death in both children and adults. Effectively managing malaria is dependent upon appropriate treatment. In Kenya, between 17 to 83 percent of febrile individuals first seek treatment for febrile illness over the counter from medicine retailers. Understanding medicine retailer knowledge and behaviour in treating suspected malaria and dispensing anti-malarials is crucial. Methods To investigate medicine retailer knowledge about anti-malarials and their dispensing practices, a survey was conducted of all retail drug outlets that sell anti-malarial medications and serve residents of the Webuye Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in the Bungoma East District of western Kenya. Results Most of the medicine retailers surveyed (65%) were able to identify artemether-lumefantrine (AL) as the Kenyan Ministry of Health recommended first-line anti-malarial therapy for uncomplicated malaria. Retailers who correctly identified this treatment were also more likely to recommend AL to adult and paediatric customers. However, the proportion of medicine retailers who recommend the correct treatment is disappointingly low. Only 48% would recommend AL to adults, and 37% would recommend it to children. It was discovered that customer demand has an influence on retailer behaviour. Retailer training and education were found to be correlated with anti-malarial drug knowledge, which in turn is correlated with dispensing practices. Medicine retailer behaviour, including patient referral practice and dispensing practices, are also correlated with knowledge of the first-line anti-malarial medication. The Kenya Ministry of Health guidelines were found to influence retailer drug stocking and dispensing behaviours. Conclusion Most medicine retailers could identify the recommended first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria, but the percentage that could not is still too high. Furthermore, knowing the MOH recommended anti-malarial medication does not always ensure it is recommended or dispensed to customers. Retailer training and education are both areas that could be improved. Considering the influence that patient demand has on retailer behaviour, future interventions focusing on community education may positively influence appropriate dispensing of anti-malarials.

Sujets

• Antimalarial medication
• Training

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 13
• Langue: English

Extrait

Rusket al. Malaria Journal2012,11:263 http://www.malariajournal.com/content/11/1/263

R E S E A R C HOpen Access Does antimalarial drug knowledge predict antimalarial dispensing practice in drug outlets? A survey of medicine retailers in western Kenya 1* 13,4 2,32,3 2,3 Andria Rusk, Nathan Smith , Diana Menya, Andrew Obala, Chrispinus Simiyu, Barasa KhwaOtsyula 1,3,4,5 and Wendy O’Meara

Abstract Background:Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya, where it is the fifth leading cause of death in both children and adults. Effectively managing malaria is dependent upon appropriate treatment. In Kenya, between 17 to 83 percent of febrile individuals first seek treatment for febrile illness over the counter from medicine retailers. Understanding medicine retailer knowledge and behaviour in treating suspected malaria and dispensing antimalarials is crucial. Methods:To investigate medicine retailer knowledge about antimalarials and their dispensing practices, a survey was conducted of all retail drug outlets that sell antimalarial medications and serve residents of the Webuye Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in the Bungoma East District of western Kenya. Results:Most of the medicine retailers surveyed (65%) were able to identify artemetherlumefantrine (AL) as the Kenyan Ministry of Health recommended firstline antimalarial therapy for uncomplicated malaria. Retailers who correctly identified this treatment were also more likely to recommend AL to adult and paediatric customers. However, the proportion of medicine retailers who recommend the correct treatment is disappointingly low. Only 48% would recommend AL to adults, and 37% would recommend it to children. It was discovered that customer demand has an influence on retailer behaviour. Retailer training and education were found to be correlated with antimalarial drug knowledge, which in turn is correlated with dispensing practices. Medicine retailer behaviour, including patient referral practice and dispensing practices, are also correlated with knowledge of the firstline antimalarial medication. The Kenya Ministry of Health guidelines were found to influence retailer drug stocking and dispensing behaviours. Conclusion:Most medicine retailers could identify the recommended firstline treatment for uncomplicated malaria, but the percentage that could not is still too high. Furthermore, knowing the MOH recommended antimalarial medication does not always ensure it is recommended or dispensed to customers. Retailer training and education are both areas that could be improved. Considering the influence that patient demand has on retailer behaviour, future interventions focusing on community education may positively influence appropriate dispensing of antimalarials. Keywords:AMFm, Antimalarial, Retail shops, Medicine outlets, Training

* Correspondence: [e-mail] 1 Duke Global Health Institute, Trent Hall, Durham, North Carolina, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

© 2012 Rusk et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.