Influence of health care financing on availability of medicines in public health facilities in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Availability of medicines is an important aspect in health care provision. Many countries however, are still battling with the problem of stock outs of essential medicines to an extent that patients go without appropriate treatment. This research sought to determine the influence of health care financing on availability of medicines. Descriptive cross sectional research design was used. All the nine sub county hospitals in Bungoma County were sampled. Census sampling was done to sample sub county pharmacists, medical superintendents, procurement officers and health administrative officers. Four officers were sampled in each sub county, making a total of 36 respondents for the study. Additionally, the head of procurement department in the county, the chief officer for health and sanitation and the county pharmacist were sampled, hence a total of 39 respondents. Semi structured questionnaires; in-depth interview guides and a checklist were data collection tools. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics appropriately then presented in tables. Data of qualitative nature was reported in narrative form. The overall percentage availability of medicines in the county was at 63.35% while the mean stock out period was 51.30 days in a 90 days review period. The key financing challenges identified were allocation of inadequate funds for medicines and irrational budgeting which contributed to the low medicines availability. The total allocation for health care was about Kshs 2.6 Billion, out of which only Ksh 120 million (4.6%) was for medicines. A budgetary deficit of between 30 to 40% was reported in more than half of the health facilities. 90.6% of respondents agreed that inadequate funding was the main reason for stock out of medicines. 71.9% of respondents further strongly agreed that allocation of funds for medicines should be as per the quantification needs to curb this problem.

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