On August 25, 2016, The National Health Service presented the Diagnostic and Treatment Guideline and the Pharmaceutical Formulary for Primary Health Facilities, aiming to improve the early diagnosis and timely treatment of the most important health problems affecting the Dominicans, including -among others- the opportunistic infections in HIV/AIDS patients.
SIAPS supported the development of these documents by updating the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) in 2015. The NLEM regulates the medicines that should be procured and dispensed in the public sector, therefore, medicines included in therapeutic guidelines and formularies should match the NLEM. SIAPS also supported in updating the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Guidelines for the Primary Health Level and the Pharmaceutical Formulary for Primary Health Level documents which hadn’t been revised since 2008. More specifically, a SIAPS consultant reviewed the previous versions of both documents including suggestions of inclusion or exclusion for the revised version. These changes were then validated by a group of clinical experts during a 3-day workshop.
Both documents will be distributed to all primary health providers in the Dominican Republic during the rest of 2016.
