Cross-sectional study on the availability of essential medicines at public health facilities in Jur River County, South Sudan

Introduction: The availability of essential medicines in health facilities in Jur River County (JRC), South Sudan, is below expectations. This  is despite the requirement that all citizens should be provided with adequate quality health care services. The objective of the study was  to assess the availability of essential medicines and inventory management practices in JRC.Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted in 31 of the 51 health facilities in JRC. These were 23 primary health care units  (PHCUs) and eight primary health care centres (PHCCs). Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, logistics management  information system (LMIS) data reports and checklist forms. All the completed checklists and questionnaires were analysed using IBM  SPSS statistics version 20.0 and LMIS data was analysed using excel spreadsheet.Results: The main findings were stockouts and overstocking of essential medicines, low skilled health workers (HWs) and ineffective  rotation of medicines in the health facilities. From January – August 2021, the stockouts of essential medicines in PHCUs and PHCCs were  44% and 34% respectively, whereas the incidences of over stockings were 22% and 31% respectively. Almost all (97%) of the health  facilities kept records of essential medicines, revealing stockouts of 90.3% on the day of the visit. Of the 31 HWs interviewed 23 (74.9%)  were community health workers (CHWs), four (12.9%) nurses and four (12.9%) pharmacy technicians; most (87.1%) had attained  secondary education.Conclusion: The quantities of essential medicines were inadequate and able to cover only two months. The major reasons were  inadequate supply of essential medicines; recruitment of CHWs and nurses, instead of pharmacy technicians in the management of  supplies; ineffective rotation of medicines within and other health facilities. More research is needed on the factors affecting the availability of medicines at the health facilities in JRC.