EPN - Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network

Drug Supply Organizations (DSOs) develop Monitoring and Evaluation tool
As part of implementing the action plan developed in the feedback meeting at the conclusion of the EPN/WHO DSO study, a workshop to develop Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tools for DSOs was held in Kampala, Uganda from 17th - 19th July 2006. The workshop was hosted by Joint Medical Stores (JMS) a member of EPN. Participants at the activity were representatives from DSOs and Christian Health Associations (CHAs) involved in drug management from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. By learning how to design survey questions, the participants then developed a draft M&E tool which will be pilot tested in Zambia, Ghana and Tanzania.

The most challenging aspect of the workshop was the rationing of electricity. The training venue only had electricity every other day and the available generator was not strong enough to provide adequate electricity to the premises. However this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants. They participated fully in the sessions and remained highly motivated during the three days.

The funding of this activity was provided by SIDA.

Second baseline study training on Access to Medicines held in Uganda

As part of capacity building for DSO’s to use necessary tools, some participants from the DSO M&E workshop continued on after the above activities to a training on how to carry out assessment of access to medicines in Church health facilities. This took place in Kampala, Uganda from 20th – 28th July 2006. The training was similar to the one conducted in Malawi in 2005 and had participants from DSOs and CHAs from Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia and Nigeria.

The training was based on the Guidelines for effective and efficient pharmaceutical services identified by EPN in 2004. The purpose of the training was to equip the participants with the skills needed to conduct baseline surveys which establish the level of implementation by church health facilities to the principles of the EPN guidelines. The participants visited church health facilities and put into practice the knowledge they received.

The participants also had an opportunity to share information, develop skills on how to conduct a survey, how to conduct analysis of gathered data and how to design survey questions.

Baseline study on access to essential medicines begins in Togo

The access study has started in Togo! The study began on 31st July 2006 and data collection is expected to be completed by 31st August 2006. Kodjo Tsogbe (CFP Togo and board member of EPN) and Hans Peter Bollinger (CFP Burkina Faso and EPN program officer) put into action what they learnt during the Malawi access study in 2005. After many email exchanges between Lomé and Ouagadougou, the team (strengthened by Edouard Koutodzo, a young program officer from APROMESTO, who was trained on the job for this study) worked together for one week in Lomé on the final preparations of the study. They managed to send out all the questionnaires for data collection. Two DSOs were visited for the drug supply section of the study, one run by the government and the other one run jointly by the Catholic and the Protestant churches. The team then set off to visit the first two hospitals for the guided self-assessments with the medical personnel, and the focus group discussions with religious leaders.  Each hospital had between 8 to 12 participants of medical personnel for the guided self-assessment and the same number of religious leaders for the focal group discussion.

After this encouraging start, the two Togolese members of the team will continue to visit the hospitals during the month of August, to collect all the requested data from 9 hospitals and hopefully up to 30 health centres. These data will be analyzed and reported back to the study participants during a feedback meeting.

HIV/AIDS Treatment Literacy workshop held in Ghana

The EPN coordinator and the HIV/AIDS Community manager at AIC Kijabe hospital (an EPN member) in Kenya were facilitators at a HIV/AIDS treatment literacy workshop held at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ghana (EPC) from 4th – 5th July 2006 in Ho, Ghana. Other resource persons from Ghana included a person living with the virus, a nurse practitioner and an HIV/AIDS programme director.

The workshop which was attended by pastors, Sunday school teachers, youth and women leaders from EPC churches in Ghana, covered topics including the basic biology to understand the disease, ARV issues such as access and adherence, what church leaders can do in their congregations in relation to treatment, nutrition and opportunistic infections (OI). The participants at the workshop were highly motivated and participative and expressed much interest to understand HIV/AIDS treatment. At the end of the workshop the Church moderator’s wife made the workshop worthwhile when in discussion on her interaction with people living with or affected by the virus she said “I am no longer afraid!”

Despite travel challenges for the team from Kenya at the airport which made them arrive in Ghana a day later than scheduled, the workshop was a great success.

Coordinator and Board member attend the XVI International AIDS Conference

The coordinator and an EPN board member, Dr. Jane Masiga both attended the XVI International AIDS Conference which took place from 13th – 18th August 2006 in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Masiga presented a paper on Challenges of Scale-up and Local Distribution in the session: “Supplying a Lifeline: Delivering Quality, Affordable Medicines and Supplies to People Living with and Affected by HIV/AIDS.”

The coordinator also participated in the Ecumenical pre-conference from 10th – 12th as part coordinator for one of the streams. On Monday 14th she was part of a team organized by Bread for the World that ran a skills building workshop on treatment literacy. The reports of their experiences at the conference are available on:

http://www.epnetwork.org/en/hiv/iadsconference/Toronto/2006/coordinator

and

http://www.epnetwork.org/en/hiv/iadsconference/2006/Toronto/boardmember

EPN member participates in access to ARVs campaign

On 11th August 2006, EPN’s member in Germany, DIFAEM, handed over 280,000 signed medicine packets to a representative from the German pharmaceutical industry. This was in a campaign to advocate for the industry to:

• Lower prices of ARVs, especially second line regimes

• Manufacture ARVs in children doses and

• Offer free licences to local companies for local production.

The signed medicine packets which had been collected over a one year period had been requested from church congregations, NGOs and individuals. They were printed by the Action Campaign Against AIDS which has more than 200 NGOs as its members. The NGO is hosted by DIFAEM. DIFAEM was also the collection point for the 280,000 signed medicine packets before they were sent to Berlin for the handover ceremony. The campaign was organized by the “Gedächiskirche” congregation based in Berlin and the “Kirche Positiv” NGO. The representative from the big-pharma industry lauded the efforts of the organizers of the campaign and stated that the industry is making efforts to ensure access to ARVs by lowering their prices and offering thirteen doses of ARVs for children.

EPN member attends Global Fund Partnership Forum

The deputy Executive Director of the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM), one of EPN’s members, attended, on behalf of EPN, the Global Fund partnership Forum which took place from 1st – 3rd July 2006 in Durban, South Africa. The purpose of the Forum was to commemorate the achievements of the Fund and to strategize on how to overcome challenges relating to the Fund.

Some of the challenges that were identified included the need of the Fund to recognize Faith-based organizations (FBOs) as a separate entity, the elimination of procurement and supply management bottlenecks and the sustainability and predictability of the funds.

EPN’s member celebrates 20th anniversary

One of the Network’s members, Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) is this year celebrating its twentieth anniversary. MEDS is a main supplier of good quality drugs to over 1,200 Church Health Units in Kenya and some neighbouring countries. MEDS began its operations in September 1986. The idea of forming MEDS was conceived in 1983 by the Kenya Catholic Secretariat’s, Medical Department (KCS) and the Protestant Churches’ Medical Association (now the Christian Health Association of Kenya – CHAK).

The culmination of the anniversary is a celebration scheduled for 8th September 2006 at the MEDS premises in Nairobi, Kenya. The coordinator and chairman of the EPN board will represent the Network at the celebrations. Congratulations to MEDS on this auspicious occasion!

EPN member participates in Drug Safety Monitoring Programme

A Network member, the Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone (CHASL) participated in an overview of the country’s drug safety monitoring programme on 26th June 2006. The event was hosted by the pharmacy board of Sierra Leone. One hundred and fifty participants from Sierra Leone and Ghana attended the event where the Pharmacy Board also launched its Pharmaco-Vigilance department. The department will ensure that the drugs within the country are safe, of good quality and efficacious.

Member’s newsletter highlights Network activities

Servicio de Medicina - Provida (Service of Medicines - Pro-Life) EPN’s member in Peru publishes a bi-annual bulletin - Info-Vida. In its July 2006 edition, Info-Vida carried two articles highlighting the three programme areas of the Network and the participation of EPN’s Country Focal Point (CFP) in Peru, Josefa Castro, at the EPN Forum in Tuebingen in May 2006.

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