Abstract:

"Background: All healthcare facilities that offer medical services to patients are required to have access to essential medications but poor availability and high price is still an obstacle to manage children illness. Since children are particularly vulnerable to bacterial infections, antibiotics are crucial for the treatment of bacterial infections in order to reduce morbidity and mortality. The study want to assess availability and cost of essential antibiotics for paediatrics in Nyamagana-Mwanza, Tanzania.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st April to 5th June in 8 hospitals where 2 of the hospitals are public hospitals and 6 of them are private hospitals at Nyamagana, Mwanza- Tanzania and T- test was used to measure the outcome.

Results: The median percentage availability of 36 antibiotics for paediatric care selected from WHO Essential Medicines List for Children and National Essential Medicines List was 68.7% ranging from (0% to 100%). The median price for 19 antibiotics was 3.3 times international reference price ranging from (0.03 to 15.7). Higher median price ratio above the warning line (greater than 2) were noted for 15 antibiotics out of 19 antibiotics. Average availability of all antibiotics in public hospitals is 50% and in private hospitals is 56%.

Conclusion: In contrast to the WHOs recommendation of 80%, the research indicated that the availability of necessary antibiotics for paediatric use is only minimal. The cost of various medications varied depending on the brand name of a certain drug, the hospital where it was prescribed, and the supplier of the medication."