Health experts and policymakers wantpeople to have access to affordable and high-quality medicalcare. But in some developing countries, making qualityhealthcare available may first necessitate ensuring thatessential medicines are available, such as anti-malariapills and antibiotics. The challenge of guaranteeing asteady supply is not only related to the financial side ofpaying for medicines. Zambia, the World Bank supported aproject exploring how to guarantee the availability ofessential medicines in often-remote health facilities. Basedon the results, clinics in districts that were part of thepilot study are now able to order drugs directly from acentral pharmacy. Donors and the Government of Zambia areworking together to expand the program to the rest of thecountry. A pilot program, consisting of two different modelsfor distribution, was initiated to test the best way toovercome the bottleneck at the district level. In Model A, acommodity planner was put in place at the district level. InModel B, health facilities submitted orders directly to thecentral Medical Stores Limited. The pilot underscores thatsuccessful distribution of drugs is about more than justmoney-or having the right amount of stocks available incentral locations. Ensuring that medicines get to clinics iscritical for a functioning health system.
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