Assessment of Laboratory Logistics Management Information System Practice for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) Laboratory Commodities in Selected Public Health Facilities in Addis Ababa
Creators: name: Desale, Adino
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2011

description: Background: - Logistics management information system for health commodities remained poorly implemented in most of developing countries. These days; however since poor commodity management for HIV/AIDS and TB laboratory commodities is leading to stock outs and overstocks of these commodities, the need of robust logistics system have gained attention. Objectives: - To assess the status of laboratory logistics management information system for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis laboratory commodities in selected public health facilities in Addis Ababa. Methods: - A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the status of laboratory LMIS used for managing HIV/AIDS and TB laboratory commodities at selected public health facilities run by the Addis Ababa Regional Health Bureau (AARHB) and Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) which either distribute HIV/AIDS and TB laboratory commodities to other facilities or provide services such as ART, VCT, PMTCT or TB laboratory services. A stratified random sampling method was used to include a total 43 facilities which, were investigated through quantitative methods using structured questionnaires interviews. The principal person responsible for managing laboratory commodities was interviewed by well trained interviewers using pre-tested questionaries in each facility. Focus group discussion with the designated supply chain managers and key informant interviews, using questions adapted from logistics system assessment tool (LSAT), were conducted with central level staff from PFSA, EHNRI and RHB for the qualitative method Results: - There exists a well-designed logistics system for laboratory commodities with trained pharmacy personnel, distributed standard LMIS formats and established inventory control procedures. However, majority of laboratory professionals were not trained in LMIS. Majority of the facilities (60.5%) were stocked out for at least one ART monitoring and TB laboratory reagents and the highest stock out rate was for chemistry reagents (direct and total bilirubin reagents). Sixteen facilities (37.2%) had stock outs at the time of visit for at least one ART monitoring and TB laboratory commodity. Expired ART monitoring laboratory commodities were found in 25 (73.5%) of facilities. Fifty percent (50%) of the assessed hospitals and 54% of health centers were currently using stock/bin cards for all HIV/AIDS x and TB laboratory commodities in main pharmacy store, among these only 25% and 20.8% of them were updated with accurate information matching with the physical count done at the time of visit for hospitals and health centers respectively. In hospitals laboratory mini-stores 37.5% of them uses stock/bin cards for HIV/AIDS and TB laboratory commodities and 25% of health centers laboratories starts to use bin cards that were not updated. Conclusion: - Even though there exists a well designed laboratory LMIS, keeping quality stock/bin cards and LMIS reports were very low. Key ART monitoring laboratory commodities were stock out at many facilities at the day of visit and during the past six months. Based on findings, training of laboratory personnels managing laboratory commodities and keeping accurate inventory control procedures were recommended. Key words: Logistics management information system, stock outs, laboratory commodities