The USAID-funded SIAPS program has been influential in designing Namibia’s approach to preventing the development of antimicrobial resistance including HIV drug resistance. Due to the rapid scale-up of ART services, Namibia has achieved high ART coverage of the HIV-positive population. Although it can be minimized, HIV drug resistance (HIV-DR) is anticipated to emerge among people … Read more
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Capacity building strategies to improve efficient use of existing resources: The South African experience
The efficient use of existing resources is an essential component of a sustainable and resilient pharmaceutical system. SIAPS-South Africa has used various capacity-building strategies to improve the decision-making process in the selection of cost-effective and affordable medicines for the public sector, and to promote the monitoring and analysis of pharmaceutical expenditure. To that effect, SIAPS-South … Read more
Fighting AMR in Resource-Limited Settings: Experiences in Swaziland
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the ability of existing medications to successfully treat common infectious diseases. As microorganisms become resistant to standard treatment, patients remain infectious for longer and increase the risk of spreading the resistant microorganisms. More expensive therapies need to be used for a longer duration to tackle the disease increasing the burden on … Read more
Emergency procurements of HIV rapid test kits avert stock-outs in Lesotho
With more than 20% of Lesotho’s population living with HIV, the need to scale up preventive measures has been recognized as crucial in the country’s fight against the disease. Although the estimated number of new HIV infections per year decreased from 30,000 in 2005 to 26,000 in 2013, the country has historically experienced low levels of … Read more
Improving Service Delivery and Accountability: The Case of Bishoftu General Hospital
Dagnachew Hailemariam has worked at Bishoftu General Hospital for six years. The hospital, located 45 km south of Addis Ababa in the town of Bishoftu, is state-owned and provides service to between 400 and 500 patients per day. Likewise, the hospital pharmacy receives orders for around 400-500 prescriptions per day. “Six years ago, we were … Read more
Interfacing RxSolution with a Biometric Verification System to Improve Patient Records Management in South Africa
Enhancing patient recordkeeping in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, located in the Gauteng Province, is the fifth-largest municipality in South Africa and home to over 2.9 million residents as well as the capital, Pretoria. The municipality operates 24 primary health care facilities providing access to health services, primarily to the uninsured … Read more
SIAPS Program Supports Revision and Launch of Haiti’s First National Medicines Policy
Improving the availability and accessibility of safe, and affordable quality essential medicines is crucial to fighting common diseases and improving public health around the world. The establishment of national policies that clearly lay out legal and administrative terms for the pharmacy sector, strengthen the national medicine supply system, and promote the rational use of medicines … Read more
OSPSANTE: A New Tool for Tracking Health Commodities in Mali
In Mali, major weaknesses in the pharmaceutical sector include the lack of availability of regular, reliable pharmaceutical management information for decision-making and an inadequate and fragmented logistics system that fails to take the community level into account when planning for inventory management. As a result, stock-outs of lifesaving commodities are frequent at all health service delivery … Read more
Using Quantimed Software to Estimate Mali’s Commodities Needs
Mali faces difficulty in ensuring the availability of HIV and AIDS medicines and supplies. Inadequate tools for quantifying the needs for medicines, poor donor coordination around the national HIV commodities forecasting, and an inadequate supply plan has affected not only the consensus on quantification results of HIV and AIDS commodities, but also the very commitment … Read more
Containing AMR in Ethiopia: What role does the media play?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to both global public health and the global economy. However, public awareness of this issue is still low in countries with limited resources. Mass media can serve as an important ally in raising such awareness. The Ethiopian Food, Medicines, and Healthcare Administration and Control Authority (EFMHACA), collaborated with SIAPS … Read more
