title: Antimalarial prescribing and dispensing practices in health centres of Khartoum state, 2003-04.
abstract: This indicator-based study assessed the antimalarial drug prescribing and dispensing practices of health care providers in health centres of Khartoum state, and compared these with national guidelines for malaria treatment. A total of 720 patients and their prescriptions in 24 health centres were included. Prescribers adhered to national treatment guidelines for only 278 (38.6%) of patients. Although all were treated for malaria, only 77.6% patients had fever or history of fever and only 64.6% had fever and positive blood films. More than 90% of prescriptions prescribed antimalarial drugs by generic names but dosage forms were correctly written in only 23.5%. There was a high rate of prescribing antimalarial injections. Only half the patients had adequate knowledge of their treatment.
authors.affiliation: National Malaria Control Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum, Sudan. abeeratta@hotmail.com
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mannan
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004348:Drug Labeling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005334:Fever / Q000469:parasitology; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008485:Medical Audit; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013397:Sudan / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials