title: Comparison of drug utilisation in public and private primary health care clinics in Tanzania.
abstract: A study was carried out in 20 public and 20 private out patient clinics (dispensaries) in Dar es Salaam. At least 30 prescriptions were collected from each clinic. A total of 1200 were collected for analysis. Prescribing indicators from the WHO/DAP "how to investigate drugs in health facilities" were used. The average number of drugs per prescription in public clinics was 2.2 compared to 2.5 in private ones (p > 0.05). The percentage generics was 51.7 in public clinics against 47.7 in private (p > 0.05). On the other hand the percentage of antibiotics was 12.3 in public against 19.7 in private (p < 0.05) whereas injections percentage was 9.6 in public against 12.7 in private clinics (p < 0.05). The results suggest a need for intervention to curb the irrational use of antibiotics and injections in private clinics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences, Dar es Salaam Tanzania.
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Massele
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Nsimba
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care; D017149:Private Sector; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017150:Public Sector; D013636:Tanzania; D014504:Urban Health