Programs action medeor

The World Health Organization estimates that church-based healthcare facilities account for up to 40% of the healthcare system in rural and structurally disadvantaged areas of the Global South. In these regions, nurses and midwives are often the only healthcare providers. This is also true in the East African countries of Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Here, the state does not ensure an adequate basic healthcare system, secure access to medications, or the distribution of pharmaceuticals by pharmacists to the civilian population. This gap is partially filled by church-based services, but even these facilities lack personnel with formal pharmaceutical education.

As a result, the adherence to minimum pharmaceutical quality standards for adequate basic healthcare is not ensured in many places. The IMPACT project (Improving Pharmaceutical Access through Continuous Training) aims to address this shortage through long-term training in basic pharmaceutical knowledge. The project focuses on two main areas: First, the teaching of basic pharmaceutical knowledge for the needs-based procurement/storage of medicines, ensuring that patients from the surrounding population can always be supplied with safe and high-quality medicines. Second, the teaching of basic pharmaceutical knowledge for the rational use and dispensing of medicines to patients. This will ensure in the future that the right patient receives the right medicine in the necessary dosage and correct form, and is advised in such a way that they can continue using it independently.

A special feature of this project is the specific focus on the sustainability of all measures. Continuous Training is a unique teaching method: A quality feature of the planned training is a holistic methodology that addresses specific needs and is accompanied by experts in the implementation of theoretical knowledge into practice. Beyond this special teaching method, the training participants develop structural improvement measures in action plans, which they use in their healthcare facilities to implement a sustainable improvement in the pharmaceutical care of the population.

Together with the local project partner EPN (Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network) and the implementing member organizations from Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, the training is tailored to the needs of the local population. Gender aspects are also considered. Specifically, this means that the different effects of a drug's active ingredients on men and women are taken into account (so-called gender-based pharmacy).

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