Surveys conducted by the WHO in 12 public and private sector medicines outlets in each of the capital cities of 14 African countries showed that the availability of children’s medicines was poor. Findings from EPN access baseline studies carried out in 7 African countries also revealed gaps in availability of essential pediatric medicines, with stock outs for basic products such as ORS being as high as 35%. 

The Millennium development goals 4 and 6 clearly highlight the importance of attention to children i.e. the reduction of child mortality and increasing access to appropriate medicines. Noting that substantial progress towards the MDG can only occur when major efforts are made to improve access to medicines for children, greater understanding on both the supply and demand factors affecting access is needed, so as to enable improvements to be made.  

The Children's medicines project is aimed at Increasing Access to Medicines for Children in Church Health Institutions. Through this project, EPN seeks to:   

• assess the availability and pricing of key children’s medicines, including ARVs, for children under 12 in selected church health institutions in 4 countries
• investigate which factors are responsible for the lack of availability of children’s medicines at the church health institutions
• investigate which factors in the supply-chain prevent church DSOs from providing children with the required, affordable, quality medicines in a regular manner

The information obtained through these studies will be used to propose interventions that can be used to address the issues of availability and pricing of medicines for children as well as for advocacy action.  

Three types of study techniques are being used in undertaking the full study in each country: 

• structured questionnaire surveys on availability and pricing of medicines within the facility
• key informant interviews on opinions of factors impacting on medicine availability for health facilities 
• focus group discussions (FGD) with selected representatives of some hospitals (as end customers of the supply chain)

So far, studies have been carried out in the following countries: 

• Chad (31 facilities)
• Kenya (79 facilities)
• Uganda (61 facilities)

Contact us to know more about these studies and their outcome. 

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