期刊论文详细信息
Malaria Journal
SMS for Life: a pilot project to improve anti-malarial drug supply management in rural Tanzania using standard technology
Research
Seif Kungulwe1  Peter Ward2  Olympia Wereko-Brobby3  Jim Barrington4  Winfred Mwafongo5 
[1] District Medical Officer, Lindi District Council, P.O. Box 328, Lindi, Tanzania;IBM (UK) Ltd, MP9, PO Box 31, Birmingham Rd, CV34 5JL, Warwick, UK;Project Support, Forum 1.P-94, Novartis Campus, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland;SMS for Life Program Director, Forum 1.P-94, Novartis Campus, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland;Senior Health Officer, National Malaria Control Program, Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, Box 9083, Ocean Road - NIMR Offices, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania;
关键词: Health Facility;    Stock Level;    Mobile Telephone;    National Malaria Control Programme;    Zonal Store;   
DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2875-9-298
 received in 2010-08-16, accepted in 2010-10-27,  发布年份 2010
来源: Springer
PDF
【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMaintaining adequate supplies of anti-malarial medicines at the health facility level in rural sub-Saharan Africa is a major barrier to effective management of the disease. Lack of visibility of anti-malarial stock levels at the health facility level is an important contributor to this problem.MethodsA 21-week pilot study, 'SMS for Life', was undertaken during 2009-2010 in three districts of rural Tanzania, involving 129 health facilities. Undertaken through a collaborative partnership of public and private institutions, SMS for Life used mobile telephones, SMS messages and electronic mapping technology to facilitate provision of comprehensive and accurate stock counts from all health facilities to each district management team on a weekly basis. The system covered stocks of the four different dosage packs of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and quinine injectable.ResultsStock count data was provided in 95% of cases, on average. A high response rate (≥ 93%) was maintained throughout the pilot. The error rate for composition of SMS responses averaged 7.5% throughout the study; almost all errors were corrected and messages re-sent. Data accuracy, based on surveillance visits to health facilities, was 94%. District stock reports were accessed on average once a day. The proportion of health facilities with no stock of one or more anti-malarial medicine (i.e. any of the four dosages of AL or quinine injectable) fell from 78% at week 1 to 26% at week 21. In Lindi Rural district, stock-outs were eliminated by week 8 with virtually no stock-outs thereafter. During the study, AL stocks increased by 64% and quinine stock increased 36% across the three districts.ConclusionsThe SMS for Life pilot provided visibility of anti-malarial stock levels to support more efficient stock management using simple and widely available SMS technology, via a public-private partnership model that worked highly effectively. The SMS for Life system has the potential to alleviate restricted availability of anti-malarial drugs or other medicines in rural or under-resourced areas.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Barrington et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010

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