Sustainable Drug Seller Initiatives: Blog Posts

Retail Drug Outlets: Developing their Potential to Improve Public Health in a Growing Number of Countries

February 26, 2018
Members of the Bangladesh study tour visit an ADDO in Tanzania. Photo Credit: Jafary Liana

In recent years, global health stakeholders have begun to recognize the profound potential that drug shops have to advance public health goals, such as those related to malaria diagnosis and treatment, child health, and family planning. These outlets, for reasons of convenience and cost, are the first choice of care for millions of people - and until recently, they have largely been ignored. “Drug shops and pharmacies are important sources of health care, particularly in rural areas or urban slums with few public clinics.

#WHWWeek: Thank Your Pharmacist, A Cornerstone of the Health System

April 05, 2016
{Photo credit: Warren Zelman}

"Medicines are a key component of treatments to save lives" ~ Kwesi Eghan, trained Ghanian pharmacist and MSH portfolio manager for the US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) program in South Sudan and Afghanistan A child in Tanzania has a fever for three days. A pregnant woman in Namibia is taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) to treat HIV and prevent transmission of HIV to her baby. A man in Swaziland suffers from drug-resistant TB and struggles to adhere to treatment.

The Accredited Medicine Stores in Liberia: Their Role in the Ebola Crisis

January 12, 2016
[An Accredited Medicines Stores (AMS) seller receives an infrared thermometer to use in Ebola and other outbreak surveillance.]

by Arthur Loryoun

Reformed Drug Shops Can Widen Access to Healthcare

June 17, 2015
[A woman and child visit an accredited dispenser in Tanzania.] {Photo credit: MSH staff}

There are ways to make informal outlets fit for quality care in poor areas, say Jafary Hassan Liana and Martha Embrey.

Improving Primary Care for the Poor by Leveraging Drug Sellers at Scale: Tanzania’s Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets Program

December 02, 2014
[A woman and her child consult with an ADDO dispenser in Tanzania.] {Photo credit: MSH}

Cross-posted with permission from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Blog, Impatient Optimists. Primary health care has many different definitions, but can be defined simply as the first place where people seek care. Within this definition, private sector providers constitute an important source of primary health care in many parts of the world. Private providers of primary health

Choice: A Conversation with Dr. Fabio Castaño (Part One)

September 19, 2014
{Photo credit: Warren Zelman.}

MSH spoke with Fabio Castaño, MD, MPH, global technical lead of family planning and reproductive health about MSH’s approach to family planning and what will define the future of family planning and global health. Below is part one of the conversation.  What is MSH’s approach to family planning and reproductive health? Dr. Fabio Castaño.Fabio:

Taking mHealth to Scale: Governing Tanzania’s Private Drug Outlets

September 17, 2014
[ADDO owners and dispensers in Mafia Island, Tanzania, learn to use the mobile applications developed by SDSI. The applications allow ADDO personnel to access an SMS-based Pharmacy Council helpline, send service utilization reports to the Pharmacy Council, and to pay annual licensing fees via mobile money.] {Photo credit: Rachel Lieber/MSH.}

Cross-posted with permission from mHealthKnowledge.org.

Gates Foundation Delegation Visits Tanzania Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets Program

September 10, 2014
[Gates Foundation delegates visit an Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet in Tanzania.] {Photo credit: Jafary Liana/MSH.}

Dr. Trevor Mundel and other senior staff of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation traveled to Tanzania this summer to see first-hand the successes of Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDO). The ADDO program, which began in 2001, grew out of the need to transform the duka la dawa biridis—unlicensed retail drug shops—into profitable, government-accredited drug dispensing outlets that supply quality medicines and services to underserved populations in Tanzania.

We Need Your Vote

July 16, 2014
{Photo credit: Rui Pires}

MSH is one of 52 finalists in USAID's Grand Challenge to pitch an idea that will accelerate substantial and sustainable progress against maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths at the community level. The idea: Piloting a model that uses mobile phone decision-support tools by small accredited drug dispensing outlets (ADDOs) in Tanzania to   counsel and provide needed medicines to pregnant women identify and rapidly refer at-risk pregnant and postpartum women and their newborns to health facilities provide family planning counseling, dispensing, and referral  

The Global View: Lessons For Mass. Health Care From Abroad

May 20, 2014
{Photo credit: Rui Pires.}

Cross-posted with permission from WBUR's CommonHealth Blog. A study released last week found that insurance is saving lives in Massachusetts. Expanded coverage will mean 3,000 fewer deaths over the next 10 years. We have state-of-the-art health facilities and are among the healthiest of Americans. Despite the fiasco of our failed enrollment website, the state maintains near-universal health coverage, and inspired the Affordable Care Act.

Devex Discusses Careers in Innovation and Development

May 19, 2014
[An Accredited Drug Store in Uganda. MSH, through the Sustainable Drug Sellers Initiative, is helping scale-up access to medicines in Tanzania, Uganda, and Liberia.] {Photo credit: Rui Pires}

Interested in a career in innovation and international development? You’re in luck, says Ingrid Ahlgren in Devex: “the need for new and improved development ideas isn’t going anywhere, and neither are the positions to facilitate them.”

Providing Access to Medicines and Health: A Conversation with Two Women Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet (ADDO) Owners - Part 2: Meet Germana

September 20, 2013
[Germana (right), ADDO owner and dispenser in Kipara Mpakani Village with full-time accredited dispenser (left).] {Photo credit: Jafary Liana/MSH}

In developing countries, a community medicines shop often serves as the first point of contact for health care. Empowering the drug shop owner and dispenser to provide safe, quality medicines, and referrals to a health facility for more complex care, is key to improving maternal and children’s health in rural areas.

Providing Access to Medicines and Health: A Conversation with Two Women Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet (ADDO) Owners - Part 1: Meet Audensia

September 20, 2013
[Audensia Batholomew shares her path to accreditation as an drug shop outlet owner and dispenser with Dr. Suleiman Kimatta.] {Photo credit: Jafary Liana/MSH}

In developing countries, a community medicines shop often serves as the first point of contact for health care. Empowering the drug shop owner and dispenser to provide safe, quality medicines, and referrals to a health facility for more complex care, is key to improving maternal and children’s health in rural areas.