Does Health Information Alone Help in Equitable Distribution of Essential Drug Kits between Health Units at District Level?

In Tanzania, the essential drugs programme (EDP) faces acute shortage of drugs brought about by a deteriorating economy and an expanding primary health care system. Many health units complain of shortages of drugs but no increase in the district allocation of EDP kits is foreseen. In the light of the aforementioned problem, a study was carried out in the Kisarawe district of Tanzania to discover, on behalf of the District Health Management Team (DHMT), the extent of the maldistribution with a view to reallocate the EDP kits among the health units on the basis of workload and catchment population. The relative workload of each health unit was estimated from the number of outpatient attendants and the catchment population estimates are based on a 1988 national census. An equitable distribution of EDP kits for each indicator was then developed by ranking the health units in order of workload and catchment population and dividing up the available number of EDP kits proportionately. Health units were categorised as either ‘over-allocated’, ‘appropriately-allocated’ or ‘under-allocated’ with EDP kits by comparing their actual drug supply with the equitable supply. The findings were presented to a meeting of the DHMT attended by the Regional Medical Officer and Ministry of Health officials. Despite being presented evidence of astounding inequity in drug distribution, there was a marked reluctance on the part of the DHMT to decide upon actions to redress some of the imbalance. In this study, we demonstrate that although data from the routine information system on essential drugs at peripheral health units provided sufficient information for managerial purposes, decision-making was delayed and limited. Several possible reasons for this are discussed. © 1995, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.