Antimalarial Drugs for Pediatrics - Prescribing and Dispensing Practices in a Tanzanian City
Abstract
Purpose: To assess dispensing and prescribing practices with regard to antimalarial drugs for pediatrics in private pharmacies and public hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study that assessed the knowledge and practice of 200 drug dispensers in the private community pharmacies in Dar es Salaam. Two hundred (200) parents of children seeking malaria treatment were also interviewed at the public hospitals.
Results: A majority of drug dispensers had moderate (63.3 %) to low knowledge (36.7 %) regarding antimalarial drug use in pediatrics. Parents had moderate (67 %) to low (33 %) level of understanding of the instructions given to them by the prescribers regarding administration of antimalarial drugs to pediatrics at home. Most children were not weighed, and there were indications of wrong calculations of doses of antimalarials in pediatrics.
Conclusion: Overall, there were irrational dispensing and prescribing of antimalarial drugs to pediatrics. Since malaria is a major killer disease in Tanzania, especially in children under five years of age, there is a need to institute measures to ensure rational prescribing, dispensing and use of antimalarial drugs in pediatrics.
Keywords: Antimalarials, Dispensing, Knowledge, Pediatrics, Pharmacies, Prescribing
Submission of a manuscript to this journal is a representation that the manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
All authors named in each manuscript would be required to sign a form (to be supplied by the Editor) so that they may retain their copyright in the article but to assign to us (the Publishers) and its licensees in perpetuity, in all forms, formats and media (whether known or created in the future) to (i) publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the contribution, (ii) translate the contribution into other languages, create adaptations, reprints, include within collections and create summaries, extracts and/or abstracts of the contribution, (iii) create any other derivative works(s) based on the contribution, (iv) to exploit all subsidiary rights in the contribution, (v) the inclusion of electronic links from the contribution to third party material where-ever it may be located, and (vi) license any thrid party to do any or all of the above.
