Factors affecting the availability of tracer health commodities in public facilities at Tana River County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Delivery of quality healthcare is significantly based on the level of commitment among health facilities. The level of organization in this context includes building a strong system where there is continued availability of fundamental resources such as tracer commodities. Human resources, financing, health information provision, and technologies integrated into the care environment have been vital in defining improved care contexts where there is a higher level of commitment. However, there is a limited understanding of the availability of health tracer commodities as well as the underlying factors which influence their availability.

Objective: To investigate the factors affecting tracer health commodities availability in public health facilities at Tana River County.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in health facilities in Tana River County. A census method was used where all 62 health facilities across different tiers of healthcare delivery were considered. A structured questionnaire and a checklist were used to collect data. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained t from KNH-UON-ERC and permission requested from the managers of the respective facilities and respondents before the data collection. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26 was used during the analyses.

Results: The mean availability of the tracer commodities was 68.73% with a standard deviation of 14.41 and a range of 27% to 94.6%. In investigating human resource-related factors influencing availability, facilities that had personnel training on commodity management since employment (β = 4.56, 95%CI: 2.29 -11.21, p=0.012) and facilities that had pharmaceutical technicians dispensing commodities (β = 2.85, 95%CI: 1.29 – 5.21, p=0.005) were significant factors influencing the availability of tracer commodities. Financial factors investigated revealed that those who were in county hospitals (β = 19.11, 95%CI: 7.39 – 30.83, p=0.002) and facilities which has disbursement of budgetary allocation on time (β = 12.08, 95%CI: 3.11 – 23.57, p=0.002) had higher availability of tracer commodity,

Conclusion: There was moderate availability of tracer commodities which was influenced by training, personnel, level of the facility, and budget allocation on time. Thus, there is a need for regular training among tracer commodity dispensing officers. care personnel especially dispensing officers.