The impact of pill counting on resource-limited health facilities: a thematic qualitative analysis in eSwatini.

Research on health systems in resource-limited settings has garnered considerable attention, but the dispensing of individual prescriptions has not been thoroughly explored as a specific bottleneck to effective delivery of care. The rise of human immunodeficiency virus/tuberculosis prevalence and non-communicable diseases in the Kingdom of eSwatini has introduced significant pressures on health facilities to meet patient demands for lifelong medications. Because automated pill counting methods are impracticable and expensive, most prescriptions are made by means of manually counting individual prescriptions using a plastic dish and spatula.

Comparison of traditional methods versus SAFEcount for filling prescriptions: A pilot study of an innovative pill counting solution in eSwatini.

Background: Packaging medications is a crucial component of health system efficiency and quality. In developing countries, medications often arrive in bulk containers that need to be counted by hand. Traditional counting is time-consuming, inaccurate and tedious.

Outcome of the second Medicines Utilisation Research in Africa Group meeting to promote sustainable and appropriate medicine use in Africa.

The second Medicines Utilization Research in Africa (MURIA) group workshop and symposium again brought researchers together from across Africa to improve their knowledge of drug utilization (DU) methodologies and exchange ideas to further progress DU research in Africa. This built on extensive activities from the first conference including workshops and multiple publications. Anti-infectives were again the principal theme for the 2016 symposium following the workshops.