Medical & Clinical Reviews

Factors Affecting the Availability of Drugs Used to Manage Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus in Public Health Facilities at Nakuru County, Kenya

Background: Continuous access to medicines to ensure adherence and prevent the long-term complications associated with poor management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus is critical in primary health care.

Objective: This study sought to mainly evaluate some of the factors that affect the availability of drugs used to manage hypertension and diabetes mellitus in public health facilities at Nakuru County.

Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used which targeted the public health facilities in Nakuru County, the study utilized survey questionnaires to collect data. Quantitative data from the questionnaires was analyzed statistical tools like mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentages. Further a multivariate regression analysis as an inferential statistical tool to assess the extent to which the factors (procurement practices and inventory practices) had impacted on availability of anti-hypertension and antidiabetes drugs in the public health facilities.

Results: The anti-hypertensives and anti-diabetics were inadequate or unavailable predominantly in the lower level of care facilities, with higher levels of care having majority of the different classes of drugs. The adjusted R square of .619 show that factors; procurement practices, storage and inventory management practices factors significantly predicted the availability of anti-hypertensives and anti-diabetic drugs at, 61.9%. Further, the p-value of .001 which is <0.05 shows that factors procurement practices, storage and inventory management practices factors have a significant relationship with availability of drugs used to manage hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

Discussion: Supply chain elements such as procurement practices which includes drug selection, quantification, and transparency are key to ensuring access to drugs, other factors such as inventory management, proper storage all contribute to effective and efficient access of drugs.

Author(s): Dennis Kibe*

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