Namibia  

About SPS Namibia

About SPS Namibia

Read about what SPS is doing in Namibia.
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News & Stories

Strengthening Governance in the Delivery of Pharmaceutical Care: The Namibia Medicines Policy and Pharmaceutical Master Plan - The National Medicine Policy expresses and prioritizes the medium-to-long-term goals set by the Government of the Republic of Namibia for the pharmaceutical sector and identifies the main strategies for attaining them. It provides a framework within which the activities of the pharmaceutical sector can be coordinated and covers both the public and the private sectors, involving all the main actors in the pharmaceutical field. Read more>>

Empowering Patients for Optimum Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment - By 2008, educational materials on the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and prevention of HIV infection were in circulation in Namibia. However, there were minimal materials on antiretroviral therapy and how to enhance adherence. Namibia’s success in rolling out ART to people living with HIV/AIDS has been a commendable success and more than 75,000 people living with HIV/AIDS are on ART. Read more>>

Improving Access to Palliative Care Medicines and Quality Care for Patients in Namibia - Until 2005, palliative care (PC) in Namibia was not an adequately addressed service. The number of people in need of PC is growing and these services are increasingly accessible. A greater number of patients are cared for in their homes by volunteers primarily from non-governmental organizations. Read more>>

Enhanced Tracking of Antiretroviral Therapy Commodities and Improving the Patient Management System - In response to some inadequacies in strategic information that informs the ART program and pharmaceutical services, the USAID funded SPS Program in Namibia provided support for the development of the Electronic Dispensing Tool to improve ART commodity tracking and patient management in the pharmacy. Read more>>

Strengthening Monitoring and Database Systems for Enhanced Health Care Provision - Manually monitoring patients at various health facilities on a regular basis can be a challenge. Without the ability to consistently oversee whether patients are collecting their medicines on time, some patients will default and health facilities will lose the ability to forecast the need for various medicines. Read more>>

Pharmacy Information Systems to Enhance Efficiency in Service Delivery in Hospital Settings in Namibia: The RxSolution Tool - The Intermediate Hospital Oshakati pharmacy has been using a manual system to manage stocks of over 1,700 pharmaceutical products valued at over 5 million US dollars annually. Coupled with inadequate numbers of pharmacists, the situation has led to poor monitoring and inventory management, long and tedious ordering processes, and an increase in wastage of medicines due to expiry. Read more>>

Strengthening the Capacity of Therapeutic Committees to Promote Efficient and Rational Use of Essential Medicines - Appropriate use of essential medicines is a cost-effective way of saving lives and improving health. However, inefficiencies and irrational use are common problems affecting essential medicines programs in developing countries, mostly arising from inappropriate prescribing practices, poor dispensing practices resulting in medication errors, and patients’ failure to adhere to dosing schedules. Read more >>

Building Human Capacity for Better Health Services - To save lives of people infected with HIV/AIDS, the Government of the Republic of Namibia and its partners initiated a free (at point of service) HIV/AIDS treatment program in 2003, but its expansion faced an important challenge: the lack of adequate and trained health personnel to deliver pharmaceutical care. As a result of this challenge, many people requiring treatment had limited access to quality service delivery. Read more >>

Integrating Information in One System for Better Health Services - The Oshakati Intermediate Hospital situated in Northern Namibia receives up to 1,500 patients per day, handling more than 40 percent of the country’s medicines procured through the Central Medical Stores. Despite such a high number of patients and a pharmacy staff shortage, the hospital was operating on a manual system to manage a stock of over 1,300 pharmaceutical products. The situation resulted in numerous challenges. Read more >>

The Launch of Namibia's Therapeutics Information & Pharmacovigilance Center  - Under the banner of “Know Your Medicines,” Namibia celebrated the launch of its Therapeutics Information & Pharmacovigilance Center and the inaugural publication of Medicines Watch, which was the culmination of a two‐year collaboration between MSH’s RPM Plus and SPS Programs and the Ministry of Health and Social Services. Read more >>

Strengthening Mid-Level Human Resources for Delivery of Pharmaceutical Services: Enhancing Institutional Capacity- Like any other developing country, Namibia is experiencing severe shortages of medical, nursing, and pharmaceutical personnel—a problem that became more pronounced following the advent of HIV/AIDS. The demand for the healthcare system and for personnel to address HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment is enormous. In line with the strategic MoHSS plan, SPS supported strengthening the capacity of the National Health Training Centre to enroll and train more pharmacists’ assistants to meet increasing staff needs and ensure equitable access to high-quality services across Namibia. Read more >>

 

Events & Activities

Read more about SPS' general upcoming events and past activities>>

 

Last Updated: 05 January 2012