Abstract

There is great concern about the impact of malaria among the estimated 247 million cases reported in 2022. Rational
drug use and adherence to treatment guidelines are major interventions to the eradication of malaria globally.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the antimalarial drug utilization and adherence to treatment
guidelines at Kitagatta Hospital in Sheema District, Western Uganda. A retrospective cross-sectional study using
malaria medical records of 280 malaria patients was adopted. Folders of patients diagnosed with malaria, from
January 2021 – March 2023 were assessed. Data were analyzed with SPSS using simple descriptive statistics. Of the
490 patient records assessed 280 patients had either uncomplicated or complicated malaria during the study period.
It was found that 140 (50%) of patients were females 19-31 years (31.1 %) presenting with fever (100%), 79.3% with
uncomplicated malaria, and 20.7% with complicated malaria. A total of 38.2% of the patients were on three different
pills with an average number of drugs per prescription of 2.0 (optimal value=1.6-1.8), the percentage of encounters
with antibiotics 46.8%, the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name 100% (Optimal value=100), the
percentage of encounter with injection 30.7% (optimal value=13.4%-24.1%), percentage of patient with
uncomplicated treated with AL 79.3%, percentage of patient with complicated treated with artesunate injection
20.7%. The most commonly used antibiotic was ceftriaxone (27.9%). This study shows some levels of irrational use
of the drugs in the course of malaria treatment in the studied facility however, prescribers strictly adhered to the
use of artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate injection for the treatment of uncomplicated and complicated malaria
as recommended by the guidelin