Malawi Task Shifting Pharmacy HRH VillageReach
Health workforce and access to essential medicines are two of the six core building blocks of a health system (WHO, 2007). Pharmacy personnel are recognized as part of the health workforce and are essential to managing the supply chain of essential health commodities.
Like most low-income countries, Malawi continues to face a critical shortage of human resources for health, including pharmacy personnel at all levels of the public health system.
The Malawi Ministry of Health — in partnership with VillageReach, the Barr Foundation, the Malawi College of Health Sciences, and the University of Washington Global Medicines Program — commenced a novel two-year pharmacy assistant training, deployment and support programme. The programme allows for rotational class and hands-on training.
The intervention has shifted health supply chain tasks back to dedicated pharmacy cadres, and has seen immediate improvements in:
- The availability of pharmacy personnel at health centres
- Storage and dispensing practices
- The quality of logistics data reporting
Auteur(s) : Aurelia Van Eeden (curation)
Publication d'origine : 1er novembre 2017
Source : Africa Resource Centre
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