The Ministry of Health and Social Services on Wednesday launched its second edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) and the seventh edition of the Namibia Essential Medicines List (NEMLIST) in Windhoek.
The launch comes nearly 26 years after the launch of the first edition of NEMLIST and about 10 years since the inception of the STG.
Executive Director in the health ministry Ben Nangombe, while delivering his welcoming remarks, said the Namibian STGs improve patient care by providing guidelines for the management of common conditions as the efficiency of health workers is improved, while NEMLIST includes all medicines that can be procured, stored and prescribed at public sector health facilities.
“The medicines on the NEMLIST are selected according to a wide range of criteria, including prevailing morbidity patterns, therapeutic efficacy and associated treatment cost,” he said.
Nangombe further stated that current scientific and evidence-based decision-making was followed in the process of updating the two documents, further announcing that health workers have adopted these documents and use it on a daily basis for medicine management and prescribing. This is evident from the progress achieved in the integrated health service delivery across the health sector, the executive director noted.
Nangombe further added that there is overwhelming evidence that the existence of such national documents ensures cost effective resource utilisation for government, resulting in essential saving interventions within the health ministry.
Speaking at the same event, World Health Organisation country representative, Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses congratulated the health ministry and its stakeholders on the new editions, saying ensuring that quality essential medicines and health products are available in sufficient quantities and affordable to the population requires functioning regulatory and procurement systems, as well as legal provisions for universal health care, governance and efficient management of resources.
“The STGs and NEMLIST are critical in this process,” he said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
