Participants review commodities data during a quarterly review meeting in the Boke region. Photo Credit: Serigne Diagne, SIAPS Guinea
Prior to 2013, Guinea’s public health facilities faced prolonged stock-outs of antimalarial medicines and health commodities. This was due in part to a shortage of products in the country, but also resulted from substandard reporting of data on stock status and consumption of malaria commodities to the National Malaria Control Program (PNLP).
Starting in 2012 with an initial assessment, the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) program, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), worked closely with PNLP and a wide range of stakeholders to redesign the data collection forms used at the health facility level and simplify the process of submitting monthly malaria reports from the district level to the Ministry of Health. The malaria reporting template now includes new sections on pharmaceutical management and malaria diagnosis and treatment to allow for more rigorous monitoring of commodities and patient care.