MALAWI: Painkillers Prescribed for Malaria Amid Drug Shortage
Malawi is experiencing a drug shortage as the country’s international donors remain reluctant to release aid meant for the health sector.
About 60 million dollars in funding has been withheld amid allegations of pilfering and corruption in the procurement of drugs at the government’s Central Medical Stores. The Central Medical Stores procures and distributes drugs to government health facilities.
The lack of aid has had a significant impact on the country’s health sector as international donors fund up to 90 percent of Malawi’s medical budget.
While some donors are supplying key medical facilities with life-saving drugs, this is not sufficient to meet the widespread demand as the supplies are mainly for the country’s three main referral hospitals located in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
Throughout the country, patients seeking medical treatment at government-run medical facilities are unable to access medication such as anti-retrovirals (ARVs), anti-malarial drugs and even painkillers.
Health facilities are also experiencing a shortage of medical equipment such as gloves, and malaria and HIV/AIDS testing kits.
Agnes Makwasa, a 45-year-old HIV-positive patient from the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre, is struggling to obtain free ARVs. For five years, she received a free one- month supply from her local government clinic, until recently.
'They told me that they could not give me my whole dosage because the clinic had limited stock. I had to return for more drugs after a week, but by then the clinic had run out,' Makwasa told IPS. She said she ended up paying 50 dollars for the medication at a private pharmacy.
'I am a widow with five young children, and I am not employed. I make a living selling doughnuts and only make about 90 dollars a month. This means that my family is living on a very tight budget. This is also a threat to my health now that I cannot afford a balanced diet, which HIV patients are advised to be on while on treatment,' said Makwasa. Up to 60 percent of Malawi's 13.1 million people live below the poverty line.
The situation has also caused concern in rural Malawi as some health facilities have run out of basic painkillers like aspirin.
Malita Nalikata from Mulanje, southern Malawi, told IPS that medical staff at her local hospital told her that they and the other medical facilities in her district did not have anti-malarial drugs to treat her malaria. They advised her to buy painkillers for treatment, as they did not even have that in stock.
'I don't have money, so I ended up going to see a traditional healer who gave me some herbs to eat with porridge,' said Nalikata. She gave the medicine man a chicken as payment.
'That is all I could afford and traditional healers accept such kind of payment,' Nalikata said. It is common practice in rural areas for poor people to patronise traditional healers when they cannot access medical care from government health centres.
About 80 percent of Malawians use public health facilities, according to the Malawi Health Equity Network , a group of civil society organisations in the health sector.
The Malawi Health Donor Group, a network of international donors including Britain, the United States, Germany and United Nations agencies, have refused to release assistance until the government cleans up the health sector.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service