Availability of Essential Medicines across Levels of Care in Gulu District, Northern Uganda

The constant availability of essential and vital medicines at public health facilities is important for credible health services and the need to meet the health requirement of the community. This study assessed the availability of vital and essential medicines at selected Health Centers II, III and IV in Gulu district. We conducted a longitudinal survey which investigated the availability of vital and essential medicines at randomly selected public health facilities at the level of Health Centre II, III and IV, over a period of six months in Gulu district. The assessment was carried out on a monthly basis. The assessment of the availability of the medicines was carried out using the check lists that were derived from the Essential Medicines and Health Supplies List of Uganda as defined by the Ministry of Health of Uganda for the various levels of care. Seventeen (17) Health Centre level II, four (4) level III and two (2) level IV were included in the survey. The mean availability of medicines at Health Centre level II was 46.1% (range: 42.7- 51.0%); 48.3% (range 47.2- 57.2%) at level III and 48.0% (range 44.4- 51.6%) at the level IV respectively. The results of this study demonstrate a poor availability of essential medicines across the levels of primary health care.