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[Hospital staff use of generic essential drugs: the case of Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital Centre (Burkina Faso)].

With the institution of the primary health care strategy in 1978 and the devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994 the French-speaking countries of Africa are striving to encourage the prescription of generic essential drugs. However, their prescription rates continue to remain low in these countries, especially in the major hospitals. The aim of this study was thus to determine how prescribers at the national hospital in Ouagadougou were informed about genetric drugs and to analyse their attitudes and practices with a view to elucidating the barriers to a more widespread use of generic essential drugs in hospital practice. The study consisted of a survey of all of the qualified prescribers (n=194) at Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital Centre in 1998. Thirty refused to participate and 35 questionnaires were discarded because they were poorly filled out. So, the responses of 129 (66.5%) prescribers in all were analysed. More than 80% (106/129) of the prescribers were aware of the existence of generic drugs in the hospital, but only 24.8% of them considered generics to have the same efficacy as their corresponding proprietary drugs. However, 64.3% of the prescribers felt that there was a place for generic drugs in a last-resort echelon of medical care, such as the national hospital in Ouagadougou, and 85.3 % were willing to prescribe them for their patients because of their low cost. The analysis of the data and the responses to the open questions show that the main conditions that would boost the prescription of generic essential drugs by hospital staff are as follows: generic essential drugs available in appropriate dosage forms and of guaranteed quality; appropriate basic training starting in medical and nursing schools; providing the prescribers with information and further education about generic drugs; and better dispensing of these drugs by the hospital's central pharmacy.