Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Antimalarial Drugs for Pediatrics - Prescribing and Dispensing Practices in a Tanzanian City

Appolinary AR Kamuhabwa , Kunjal Ramji

Unit of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Pharmacy, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;

For correspondence:- Appolinary Kamuhabwa Email: akamuhabwa@muhas.ac.tz Tel:+255 757 576985

Received: 23 March 2011 Accepted: 18 September 2011 Published: 23 October 2011

Citation: Kamuhabwa AA, Ramji K. Antimalarial Drugs for Pediatrics - Prescribing and Dispensing Practices in a Tanzanian City. Trop J Pharm Res 2011; 10(5):611-618 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v10i5.10

© 2011 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

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