Improving Medicines Access and Use for Child Health: A Guide to Developing Interventions

The goal of the SIAPS Program is to ensure the availability of quality pharmaceutical products and effective pharmaceutical services to achieve desired health outcomes. The manual is designed to assist in developing interventions to improve access and use of medicines for child health. It provides a step-by-step approach to developing and testing interventions, including identifying problems, exploring problems, choosing an intervention, implementing the intervention, and evaluating the intervention. The manual emphasizes the importance of effective case management of sick children in achieving the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG-4), which calls for a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality rate by 2015. It highlights the need for common pediatric illnesses to be correctly diagnosed in a timely way, clinically appropriate medicines to be available in the community, and families to be able to obtain and properly use these medicines. The manual discusses various strategies for improving access and use of medicines for child health, including Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) and Community Case Management (CCM). IMCI consists of three components: strengthening health workers' skills in managing sick children, improving health systems, and promoting good child health practices in families and communities. CCM is an approach that emphasizes the role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in promoting timely care-seeking, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment, and adequate referrals to facilities. The manual also highlights the importance of medicines supply, logistics, monitoring, motivation, and supervision of CHWs in effective adoption of CCM. It notes that other providers besides community volunteers can play a role in improving access and use of medicines for child health, such as Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDOs) that expand access to medicines in locations closer to the community. The manual provides guidance on preparing for implementation, developing an implementation plan, developing a monitoring system, pilot testing the intervention, and finalizing the implementation plan before beginning the intervention. It also emphasizes the importance of evaluating interventions to assess their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. The manual is intended for use by a range of stakeholders, including policymakers, program managers, and health care providers. It provides a comprehensive framework for developing and implementing interventions to improve access and use of medicines for child health, and can be used to support the development of effective programs to achieve the MDG-4 goal.