To achieve the objective of eliminating malaria in Guatemala, timely access to appropriate treatment is a key strategy for the Ministry of Health. One of the mainstays of this strategy is the network of community volunteers who provide diagnosis and treatment for malaria in their communities. After an assessment identifying weaknesses in the management of … Read more
Archive Blog
Publication Highlight: Improving Medicines Access and Use for Child Health—A Guide to Developing Interventions
Improving Medicines Access and Use for Child Health—A Guide to Developing Interventions represents an up-to-date[i] and practical resource for those developing interventions to improve access to and use of medicines for child illness. While it primarily targets groups working in community organizations, health facilities, and district health offices, it could also be used within the … Read more
World TB Day 2016: Celebrating Successes and Lessons Learned in Swaziland
In 2012, bedaquiline was conditionally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), making it the first new TB drug to enter the market in more than 40 years. With the rise of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB leaving patients with fewer treatment options, the approval of bedaquiline … Read more
Stronger Health Systems: How SIAPS is Contributing to the End TB Strategy
The WHO End TB Strategy aims to end the global TB epidemic with a three-pronged approach. Targets include reducing TB deaths by 95%, cutting new cases by 90% between 2015 and 2035, and ensuring that no family is burdened with catastrophic expenses due to TB. Our new infographic shows how SIAPS is fighting TB in line with … Read more
Ramping Up the Use of New TB Drugs in Uganda: An Interview with Hawa Nakato
In April 2015, USAID and Janssen Therapeutics officially launched the bedaquiline (BDQ) donation initiative, under which Janssen committed to providing free BDQ to 30,000 patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) over a four-year period. Along with delamanid, BDQ is one of only two new TB medicines released to the market in over 40 years. These medicines … Read more
New hope for treating drug-resistant TB in Swaziland: An interview with Khontile Kunene
In April 2015, USAID and Janssen Therapeutics officially launched the bedaquiline (BDQ) donation initiative, under which Janssen committed to providing free BDQ to 30,000 patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) over a four-year period. Along with delamanid, BDQ is one of only two new TB medicines released to the market in over 40 years. These medicines … Read more
Expanding options for TB patients in Georgia: An interview with Maya Kavtaradze
In April 2015, USAID and Janssen Therapeutics officially launched the bedaquiline (BDQ) donation initiative, under which Janssen committed to providing free BDQ to 30,000 patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) over a four-year period. Along with delamanid, BDQ is one of only two new TB medicines released to the market in over 40 years. These medicines … Read more
Engaging Private Sector Pharmacies in Pakistan to Increase Early TB Case Detection
A 2010 prevalence survey in Pakistan showed that the rate of bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB among the adult population is very high. Case detection is important for TB control, allowing service providers to identify sources of infection and treat them to break the chain of infection in a community. For this reason, low TB case … Read more
Encouraging increased adherence to treatment standards through drug utilization reviews in Ukraine
When doctors and patients fail to adhere to proper standards of treatment, it results in a higher disease burden, including greater financial costs, mortality, and morbidity. In Ukraine, the need to encourage better adherence to standard treatment guidelines became clear in 2011, when a study by SIAPS Program’s predecessor, the Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems (SPS) Program, … Read more
Promoting better use of medicines through the establishment of a National Essential Medicines Committee in Swaziland
The WHO estimates that more than 50% of all medicines are prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that 50% of all patients fail to take them correctly. The overuse, underuse or misuse of medicines—also known as irrational use of medicines—results in wastage of scarce resources, increased risk of adverse drug reactions, and widespread health hazards, … Read more
