[A survey of sustainable funding mechanisms for essential drugs in Loumbila, Burkina Faso]. / Étude des mécanismes pérennes de financement des médicaments essentiels à Loumbila, Burkina Faso.

Households are the main source of health care financing in Burkina Faso. The current system based on out-of-pocket health payments is a major cause of poverty. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the improvement of local health funding in Loumbila and throughout the country. A descriptive and analytical study was conducted among 271 household heads, 3 health committee members, the prefet (the top state official in the area), and the secretary general of the municipality between 25 June and 5 August 2010. A survey guide and questionnaires were used to collect data. The standard public health survey method was used to collect, process, analyze and discuss the results. The results of the survey indicate that 82.3% of the participating households were willing to contribute to the creation of a local health fund in the village. The study found that the average contribution rate of each household amounted to 9% of their annual income. The best periods for collecting funds are during the harvest season (in the case of farmers) or any favorable period (in the case of other households). The municipal committee will need to be responsible for managing and coordinating the municipal health fund. This requires the participation of the state, health districts, NGOs and other partners. The cost of effective treatment for the top ten priority diseases in the village in 2010 is estimated to be 4,011,300 FCFA. If all the households in the village were to contribute to the municipal health fund, the total amount of contributions would amount to 15,575,515 FCFA. Under this system, all households within the village can have access to essential drugs. The municipal health fund can also support municipal development boards to improve the independence and sustainability of the system.

Measuring availability, affordability and management of essential medicines in public hospitals of Burkina Faso.

In Burkina Faso, improving healthcare services and the availability of pharmaceutical products constitute a growing concern for the population. This study objective was to evaluate the availability, prices, and sales revenue for a grouping of 50 basic medications in public hospitals from 29 September-29 December 2009. The method used to study the prices, availability, affordability and price components from Health Action International (HAI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) has been used to collect and analyze the data. The results show that the average ratio between the pharmaceutical budget and that of the health centre is 16.18. The average rate of availability was 77.69%. The purchasing price from the hospitals providers is approximately the same as the international reference prices (1.12). The public hospitals selling price to the public was double the buying price from their provider (2.20). The total sales revenue from the first three trimesters of 2009 was 708,740,495 FCFA (Euro 1,080,397). This revenue accounted for roughly 23.02% of the total costs for available pharmaceuticals during the period (3,078,938,053 FCFA/Euro 4,693,503).