Interventions to improve the role of medicine sellers in malaria case management for children in Africa

This report, published by the Malaria Consortium and the USAID project Basic Support for Institutionalising Child Survival (BASICS), reviews 15 interventions to improve child health and malaria-related activities of medicine sellers in Africa. It reports that medicine sellers are a major source of health care for many communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Some studies suggest they are used in around 50 per cent of cases of child illness. The report argues that it is important to ensure that medicine sellers have the capacity to provide safe and appropriate medicines in correct amounts, and examines interventions that have attempted to do this.

The authors find that training can improve drug retailer knowledge about malaria, but that monitoring, supervision and refresher training may also be needed to ensure that they change the way they work. They also recommend information and education programmes on effective malaria treatment for the whole of the community, and improved management of drug supplies, since drugs are often of poor quality. The report notes that for medicine seller interventions to be taken to regional, provincial or national scale, the financial costs will need to be minimised. The involvement of local government health management teams is crucial if large-scale funding is to be obtained.