Patient Compliance
• In 78% of the households, it was found that all prescribed medicines were used.
• All households interviewed used either some or all of the medicines prescribed.
Figure 4.24 Patient compliance in taking prescribed medicines in households
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Recommendation
• Investigate the reasons and propose interventions to improve on the poor or inadequate storage conditions in the public health facilities and regional warehouses.
• Develop and implement mechanisms to ensure there are no medicines that expire in all the public health facilities and regional warehouses.
• Develop guidelines and intervention measures to improve on the labelling of medicines. These should be supported by extensive campaigns on the community based information, education and communication.
• There needs to be developed a mechanism of educating patients so that they know how to take their medicines correctly. Thus comprehensive community based information, education and communication campaigns need to be organised.
• Investigate and develop interventions to reduce antibiotic use. Intensive prescriber and consumer education initiatives should also be undertaken to lower the demand for antibiotics.
• Investigate and develop interventions aimed at reducing the number of patients receiving injections.
• Investigate and develop mechanisms to improve the distribution of STGs and EDL to all health facilities.
• There is need to develop and implement mechanisms of ensuring that prescribing by generic names is accomplished.
• Investigate reasons for current clinical management of the tracer conditions (e.g establish causes/reasons contributing to irrational medicine use overall).
• There is need to develop and implement information, education and communication campaigns to improve the rational use of medicines in communities.
• A functional Medicines Information Centre needs to be established with modern technology, supported (financially and technically) and sustained.
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