Back ground
The Republic of Liberia has had a fourteen year civil war which has a devastating effect on
the lives of people and healthcare infrastructures. Among the many health challenges,
irrational use of essential medicines is of high priority. The determinants of the irrational use
of essential medicines in the country are unknown. In order to obtain the magnitude at which
medicines are used and advance possible recommendations for remedy, a descriptive crosssectional
was conducted in 30 public health facilities in Montserrado County, Liberia
administrative center.
Objective: To assess the rational use of essential medicines in public health facilities in
Montserrado County, Liberia.
Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted according to the (WHO)
guidelines for monitoring and assessing country pharmaceutical situation. The study was
conducted from March to June, 2012. About 30 TEMs using the WHO model list of 15
medicines (that is a standard set by WHO /DAP for sampling and study of medicines) and an
additional 15 medicines of interest were assessed in the targeted healthcare facilities.
Results: A total of 486 essential medicines were dispensed in 121 prescriptions. An average
of 4 medicines per prescription was encountered. About 42 (67%) TEMs were prescribed by
generic names. The availability of the TEMs in the hospitals ranged from 43.3% to 96.7%
with St.Joseph Catholic Hospital (97%) ranking the first. In the healthcare centers, about
43% of TEMs were readily available with a range of (33% to 43%) whiles in clinics these
ranged from between (13% to 90%). By therapeutic groups, the comparative availability of
TEMs showed 93% for analgesics, 90% for antimalarial medicines, 83% for anti-infective
agents, 27% for antihelminthics, 37% for vitamins, 43% for antacids, 37% for antihypertensive
and 87% for other medicines. In this study, the majority 25 (70%) of the
dispensers interviewed were nurse aides and minority being Pharmacists (3%). The
pharmacists were mainly deployed in the referral hospitals. Of the 144 out-patients
interviewed, 91 (63.3%) of them knew how to take medicines as per indications and 121
(84%) were satisfied with the healthcare services they received.