The government has been called upon to formulate a mechanism whereby all pharmacies should be “forced” to sell subsidised artemisinin-based combination therapy malaria drugs.
Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites that are transmitted by the bites of mosquitoes
According to findings of a recent survey conducted in Dar es Salaam’s three districts, among the 58 pharmacies studied, 97 per cent reported dispensing Artmether-lumefantrine (ALU) drugs as part of their business and found out that 82 per cent of them actually had them in stock. Speaking at a brief dialogue yesterday, the Youth Initiatives Tanzania Executive Director, Mr Abner Okello, said that the remaining pharmacies did not stock ALU medicines at all.
“These facts show that the price recommendation apparently does have a certain ‘bite’, as a number of pharmacists report that selling ALU is not profitable. It is for this reason that I feel that the government needs to have some sort of mechanism,” he explained.
Mr Okello said that this situation brings rise to medicines that are not subsidised to be promoted and thus the need for intervention where the pharmacists should be mandated to stock and sell these drugs.
The report entitled “the price of treating malaria: can government, donors, private sector and citizens together make medication more affordable?” found that of the 58 pharmacies studied, 55 would sell a child’s dose at the request of the field officer and in all but one of them the price was more than 500/-.
The price demanded for a child’s dose by the pharmacies was in all these cases at least 1000/- higher than the recommended prices and only one facility sold ALU at the correct recommended price for a child’s dose.
“This fact implies that children are in a particularly vulnerable position. Research showed that when it comes to preventive health care such as using bed nets, parents often do not take sufficient action but as we find here, when diagnosed with malaria, parents of children in Dar es Salaam are largely forced to pay higher prices than government recommends, thus potentially leading to cut backs in treatment,” he explained.
Among the pharmacies visited in Kinondoni District, only 26 per cent were found to be dispensing ALU at the official price of 1000/- for an adult’s dose and about 47 per cent dispensed the drug at 2000/- and above. Among the three municipalities, Temeke led at dispensing at the recommended price with findings pegged at 79 per cent of pharmacies visited while none asked for more than 2000/-.
Ilala took the middle position, with 50 per cent adhering to the recommended price. The Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria (AMFm) is an innovative financing mechanism designed to expand access to the most effective treatment for malaria, artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).
The AMFm aims to enable countries to increase the provision of affordable ACTs through the public, private and NGO sectors. This will save lives and reduce the use of less-effective treatments to which malaria parasites are becoming increasingly resistant. It will also reduce the use of artemisinin as a single treatment or monotherapy, thereby delaying the onset of resistance to that drug and preserving its effectiveness.
The World Health Organisation National Professional Officer, Dr Ritha Njau said that Tanzania being one of the countries picked for the pilot had been given a year between January and December 2013 to find who would handle the subsidisation of the drugs after the pilot elapses. Dr Njau said that ALU is currently the malaria drug that has been passed by the WHO, adding that the real price for a dose of ALU is between 10 and 15 US dollars approximately 24,000/-.
The Twaweza head, Mr Rakesh Rajani, said that he strongly believed that the best way was for all players in the health sector to work together and play their part. “I believe the job that has been done already is good but to get the last mile, there is need to get feedback from the common person and work on it,” he said. The report was produced by Youth Initiatives Tanzania in partnership with Twaweza.
By MASEMBE TAMBWE, Tanzania Daily News
