Patrice Polmbaye Ngoko^1,2*, Sévérin Mbog Mbog^1,2, Dieudonné Adiogo^1,3, Lucile Lessomo^1,2, Gareth Martinien Zo'obo Engolo^1,2 and Dieudonné Bitondo^1,2

¹Energy, Materials, Modeling and Methods Research Laboratory, Cameroon
²National Polytechnic School of Douala, Cameroon
³Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Douala, Cameroon

*Corresponding Author: Patrice Polmbaye Ngoko, Energy, Materials, Modeling and Methods Research Laboratory, Cameroon.

Received: November 18, 2022; Published: November 29, 2022

Abstract

Some third world countries are still struggling to put in place effective national drug management policies capable of improving the health of their populations. This study consisted in analysing the national drug management system in Cameroon from February 2017 to June 2022 using a PDCA continuous improvement approach. We were able to observe the existence of a strategic planning with very low financial means, the weakness of the regulatory framework, a decentralised import policy with two sub-systems, a pharmaceutical industry that is not very competitive, the absence of system audit procedures and also the absence of a formal framework for consultation between the various structures of the National Pharmaceutical Regulation Authority (General Inspectorate of Pharmaceutical Services and Laboratories) and the National Pharmacy Directorate, The Directorate of Pharmacy, Medicines and Laboratories, the Directorate of Operational Health Research, the National Laboratory for Quality Control of Medicines and the National Centre for the Supply of Essential Medicines and Medical Consumables) and the weaknesses of the regulatory framework reduce the continuous improvement of the current system and increase the illicit traffic of fake medicines, an activity that exposes the medicine to poor storage. The example of the city of Douala, the economic capital of the country, showed us that out of 560 households surveyed in the vicinity of drug sales outlets in the neighbourhood, the percentage of people exposed to the consumption of medicines exposed to storage risk is 44.17%. Adopting a risk-based approach such as PDCA would be a very important element in decision making, awareness raising and ensuring increasingly compliant medicines in the country.

Keywords: Health System; Medicines; Storage; Continuous Improvement; Risk

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Citation

Citation: Patrice Polmbaye Ngoko., et al. “Analysis of Cameroon’s National Drug Management System Using a Continuous Improvement Approach: The Case of Douala City”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6.12 (2022): 134-144.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Patrice Polmbaye Ngoko., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.