WESTERN PROVINCE

As Rwanda moves forward with higher-technology, more efficient and longer lasting medicines to fight the HIV/Aids virus, it is learning that being treated is not simply about what you swallow, but who gives it to you.

For long, the country has been using very well anti-retroviral drugs to overcome the epidemic. Though these drugs are credited for their serious effect, little have the pharmacists dealing with them been had experience or training on how to administer them.

To fix this problem, the pharmacy task-force in the Ministry of Health together with Health/Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus [MSH/RPM] have begun intensive trainings at the Bethany Hotel in Kibuye.

"It is important to strengthen the pharmaceutical management system in the country as drugs are strategic elements to guarantee a complete clinical treatment and care but are also costly,” said Joseph Kabatende, a representative from the Ministry of Health.

Selection of drugs, quantification, procurement, good storage practices, rational drug use as well as tools used in reporting system were the primary key factors discussed in how to overcome the Aids scourge.

Simultaneous trainings have also been carried out in Musanze, Ngoma and other places around the country. Courtesy of the Pharmacy Task Force with the help of Management Sciences for Health /Rational Pharmaceutical Management.

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