Accounting for more than one million under-five deaths each year, pneumonia is the leading killer of children under the age of five worldwide, claiming more lives than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. This year’s World Pneumonia Day (WPD) theme is “universal access to pneumonia prevention and care”. In commemoration of WPD, child health advocates are … Read more
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Helping Frontline Health Workers Improve TB Supply Chain Management in the Philippines
Edgar Almoguera, Sr., has been working as a public health nurse in Old Balara Health Center in Quezon City, Metro Manila, since 1994. Primary healthcare services such as maternal and child care and TB directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) are provided by the center to 14,800 families in this urban neighborhood, or barangay. As the … Read more
Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services (APTS) Selected as Key Priority for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health
This year’s National Annual Review led by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) brought together more than 850 health professionals from across the country to discuss the way forward in public health for the coming year. The MoH identified eight priority areas, one of them being SIAPS/Ethiopia’s transformative APTS system—the first time a pharmacy area was selected … Read more
Coordinating the Management of Essential Medicines in Mali
The National Pharmaceutical Policy (NPP) of Mali aims to ensure equitable access of essential medicines and promote their rational use for the people of Mali. This requires not only a good logistical management information system, but also coordination among key actors. In May 2014 Mali’s Regional Health Department in Segou, with the support of SIAPS/Mali, … Read more
Another Step Forward in Governing the Pharmaceutical Sector in Swaziland
In Swaziland, SIAPS has been supporting the Ministry of Health in developing both the Pharmacy Bill to regulate the profession and practice of pharmacy, and the Medicines and Related Substances Bill to regulate the registration, importation, and use of medicines and related substances. The two bills have been passing through the legislative process and are … Read more
Strengthening Patient-centered Pharmacovigilance in South Africa
In an effort to strengthen national HIV/AIDS pharmacovigilance activities, the National Pharmacovigilance Center (NPC) has established a cost-effective way of promoting the safe, effective use of medicines in South Africa through the implementation of a decentralized pharmacovigilance program. This new initiative is being carried out with support from the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals … Read more
An Innovative Way to Improve Medicine Availability at Clinics in Limpopo Province, South Africa
The support of Community Service Pharmacists (CSPs) in Limpopo province has contributed to improvements in medicine supply management and better compliance with quality standards at the primary health care (PHC) level. In 2013, the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), provided … Read more
Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services (APTS) Selected as Key Priority for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health
This year’s National Annual Review, led by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health (MoH), brought together more than 850 health professionals nationwide to discuss ways to advance public health in the coming year. SIAPS/Ethiopia’s APTS system was among the eight priority areas identified for discussion by the MoH—the first time a pharmacy area has been included on the … Read more
SIAPS highlights the challenge of medicines access at the 2014 Mini-University
Each spring the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health sponsor the Global Health Mini-University, a day-long forum for global health professionals and students. The event features a variety of sessions on areas such as HIV/AIDS, family planning, and health systems. This past year, … Read more
Improving Maternal Health: Strengthening Procurement Systems at the Subnational Level
Beth Yeager and Sheena Patel Expanding access to essential maternal medicines saves mothers’ lives. But access to life-saving maternal medicines requires an effective supply chain that delivers the right medicines to the right people at the right times. In many countries, weak pharmaceutical management systems are unable to meet the challenges of providing access to … Read more
