Resource Center
Community Drug Management for Childhood Illnesses (C-DMCI) Assessment Tool
Purpose:
To assess medicine use and availability at community level and the practices of caregivers as well as of key providers of medicines (including all types of private providers.)
Description:
The Community Drug Management for Childhood Illnesses (C-DMCI)Assessment tool was developed to evaluate practices of use of medicines to treat childhood illnesses and malaria in the community. This assessment is carried out at two levels in the community; the provider level, including all providers of medicine in the community; private and public, formal and informal, and the household level with caretakers of recently sick children and assesses medicine availability and use and related practices. The results of the assessment help program planners to identify and address factors related to the availability of medicines, treatment seeking practices and how medicines are used by providers, patients and caretakers
Intended Users:
This tool is designed to assist district health managers, program planners, and regional or national policy makers in identifying problems as well as possible ways to improve medicine availability and use practices in the household and by providers in the community for priority health conditions in children and for malaria.
This assessment tool is relatively easy to use by local health managers working on child survival and pharmaceutical management issues. The data are designed to be collected by lay data collectors, such as school teachers, using structured interviews with providers and sellers of medicines as well as with caregivers of recently sick children.
Developed by:
Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus Program (RPM Plus) developed the C-DMCI assessment tool in collaboration with Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the Drug Policy Research Group of Harvard Medical School in December 2003 (reprinted in 2004).
Application:
The C-DMCI was field-tested in Senegal and Zambia. The C-DMCI assessments at the national level were conducted in Senegal (2002), Cambodia/Thai border (2002), Zambia (2003), Peru (2003), Cambodia (2004) and DRC (2006).
In addition, the tool has been taken up and used by others including the International Rescue Committee in Rwanda, the MSH Community Participation for Action in the Social Sectors (COMPASS) project in Nigeria and by a research group from Karolinska University in Uganda. It is also included as part of the WHO Promotion of Rational Drug Use in Communities (PRDU-C) course material and is available on the WHO website.
Advantages:
The C-DMCI tool is easily adaptable to local settings and has been used successfully in multiple settings and circumstances. It provides indicator-based approach to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the use of pharmaceuticals at the community level by providers and caregivers or patients. It also provides a systematic method for monitoring the impact of interventions.
Limitations:
Users must adapt the instruments for the local context and analyze data and interpret findings.
Recommendations for Users:
It is recommended that the users ensure that data collectors are well trained and will not bias information coming from informal vendors and household respondents. Users should also use appropriate sampling techniques and pay particular attention to the quality of the data as it is being analyzed.
Report and Publications:
English, French, and Spanish
Contact:
Grace Adeya
Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus Program
Management Sciences for Health
4301 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 400
Arlington, VA 22203
USA
Phone:(703) 524-6575
Fax:(703) 524-7898
Email: rpmplus@msh.org
To access the tool, please contact rpmplus@msh.org
To assess medicine use and availability at community level and the practices of caregivers as well as of key providers of medicines (including all types of private providers.)
Description:
The Community Drug Management for Childhood Illnesses (C-DMCI)Assessment tool was developed to evaluate practices of use of medicines to treat childhood illnesses and malaria in the community. This assessment is carried out at two levels in the community; the provider level, including all providers of medicine in the community; private and public, formal and informal, and the household level with caretakers of recently sick children and assesses medicine availability and use and related practices. The results of the assessment help program planners to identify and address factors related to the availability of medicines, treatment seeking practices and how medicines are used by providers, patients and caretakers
Intended Users:
This tool is designed to assist district health managers, program planners, and regional or national policy makers in identifying problems as well as possible ways to improve medicine availability and use practices in the household and by providers in the community for priority health conditions in children and for malaria.
This assessment tool is relatively easy to use by local health managers working on child survival and pharmaceutical management issues. The data are designed to be collected by lay data collectors, such as school teachers, using structured interviews with providers and sellers of medicines as well as with caregivers of recently sick children.
Developed by:
Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus Program (RPM Plus) developed the C-DMCI assessment tool in collaboration with Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the Drug Policy Research Group of Harvard Medical School in December 2003 (reprinted in 2004).
Application:
The C-DMCI was field-tested in Senegal and Zambia. The C-DMCI assessments at the national level were conducted in Senegal (2002), Cambodia/Thai border (2002), Zambia (2003), Peru (2003), Cambodia (2004) and DRC (2006).
In addition, the tool has been taken up and used by others including the International Rescue Committee in Rwanda, the MSH Community Participation for Action in the Social Sectors (COMPASS) project in Nigeria and by a research group from Karolinska University in Uganda. It is also included as part of the WHO Promotion of Rational Drug Use in Communities (PRDU-C) course material and is available on the WHO website.
Advantages:
The C-DMCI tool is easily adaptable to local settings and has been used successfully in multiple settings and circumstances. It provides indicator-based approach to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the use of pharmaceuticals at the community level by providers and caregivers or patients. It also provides a systematic method for monitoring the impact of interventions.
Limitations:
Users must adapt the instruments for the local context and analyze data and interpret findings.
Recommendations for Users:
It is recommended that the users ensure that data collectors are well trained and will not bias information coming from informal vendors and household respondents. Users should also use appropriate sampling techniques and pay particular attention to the quality of the data as it is being analyzed.
Report and Publications:
- Senegal Assessment: Community Drug Management for Childhood Illnesses 2002
English, French
- Peru Assessment: Community Availability and Use of Medicines for Childhood Illnesses (Loreto and La Libertad Regions) 2003
Spanish
- Community Medicine Management for Childhood Malaria in Zambia June 2003: Assessment Report A two page C-DMCI flyer
English
English, French, and Spanish
Contact:
Grace Adeya
Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus Program
Management Sciences for Health
4301 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 400
Arlington, VA 22203
USA
Phone:(703) 524-6575
Fax:(703) 524-7898
Email: rpmplus@msh.org
To access the tool, please contact rpmplus@msh.org