a) Characteristics of survey population
Sex of Survey Population
Age distribution of survey population
b) Symptoms and source of first consultation
Common disease symptoms reported
• Fever, cough and diarrhoea accounted for 98% of the symptoms reported
Reported symptoms
Source of first consultation
• 64% consulted a clinic or hospital in the public or private sectors
• 7% consulted a pharmacy or drug seller
• 5% consulted a traditional healer
• 13% self-medicated or used medicines remaining after another illness
Type of first consultation
c) Prescribing and obtaining the prescribed medicines
• 91% of the consultations resulted in medicines being prescribed
• Of the medicines prescribed, the following proportions were obtained:
All of the medicines dispensed |
68.7% |
Some of the medicines dispensed |
27.7% |
None of the medicines dispensed |
3.6% |
Primary reasons for not obtaining all of the prescribed medicines:
• In 87.2% of cases, availability and price were stated as the primary factors
• Of these 45.7% related to availability in either the public or private sectors and
• 41.5% related to price and/or availability of money
Primary reason for not obtaining all of the prescribed medicines
Sources of medicines obtained:
• 2 out of 3 obtained their medicines from a public or private health centre/hospital
• 1 in 10 obtained their medicines from a pharmacy and another 1 in 10 obtained their medicines from a retailer other than a pharmacy
• 4% obtained their medicines from a traditional healer
Sources of medicines obtained
d) Taking prescribed medicines
• 3 in every 10 patients did not take the full course of prescribed medicine
• Almost 1 in 20 took none of the medicines that were prescribed
All was taken |
70.3% |
Some was taken |
25.1% |
None was taken |
4.6% |
e) Estimated family weekly income/total weekly household expenses15
15 Household expenditures for a 7-day recall were collected from the surveyed household and equated to the family weekly income
Average income/expenses per week |
US$ 9.77 |
Findings from 2002/3 household surveys16
Average size of household |
5 |
Average monthly consumption expenditure per household (national) |
UShs 139,300 (US$ 77) |
Rural |
UShs 113,300 |
Urban |
UShs 266,100 |
Share of monthly household expenditure on health (national average) |
4% |
Rural |
5% |
Urban |
3% |
16 Uganda National Household Survey 2002/2003, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Nov. 2003
From the 2002/3 Uganda National household surveys, households in the rural areas, which are generally poorer than the urban households, spend more on health.
This provides one way of viewing equity in access and utilisation of health services by examining the financial burden seeking healthcare places on households of different income levels.
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Recommendations
Develop and implement strategies that ensure equitable access, affordability and sustainable financing for health services in general and access to essential medicines in particular. Design and implement consumer-targeted and community-based information, education and communication campaigns to improve rational use of medicines in the community.
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