Assessment of availability, expiry and storage condition for key tracer essential medicines in public health facilities in Ruweng State, South Sudan

Abstract

ABSTRACT: ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABILITY, EXPIRY AND STORAGE CONDITION FOR KEY ESSENTIAL TRACER MEDICINES IN RUWENG STATE, SOUTHSUDAN PUBLIC HEALTHCARE FACI;ITIES South Sudan stock out of essential tracer medicines was a major problem in health facilities run by government, this is due to civil war that is ongoing and lack of adequate funding for healthcare financing, many of government healthcare facilities lack essential tracer medicines however availability and access are compromised to a great extent. The objectives of this research stood to assess the availability, expiry, and storage condition for key tracer medicines in government for Ruweng state of South Sudan public healthcare facilities. Quantitative descriptive survey method was used and health facilities were selected purposively with fifteen essential medicines selected based on their inclusion in South Sudan essential medicines list and in South Sudan treatment guideline. Survey forms were adapted from world health organization operation package for the assessment of country pharmaceuticals situation. Essential tracer medicines availability in Ruweng state was 83%, with the highest score registered by Yida PHCC(93%), and the rest of the facilities scored 80% each .Expired medicines were also investigated and it was found that none of the facilities were keeping and holding expired medicines on store shelves. The mean stock out in days of essential medicines was not bad with very few medicines that were out of stock for very long time in some health facilities, meanwhile the assessment of the storage conditions in the state healthcare facilities was found to be satisfactory, the availability of essential medicines is very good, maximum used of good storage practices, improvement of emergency request and more research to be done that cover many indicators and including all the state of South Sudan. The availability of essential tracer medicines will remain a major challenge in South Sudan as long as funding mechanisms or insufficient funds are allocated for procurement of medicines and no proper training is conducted for personnel on medicine supply management practices.