Essential medicines and technology for hypertension in primary healthcare facilities in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) now constitute major cause of morbidity and mortality in middle and low income countries including Nigeria. One of the major efforts at controlling CVDs in Nigeria includes expanding universal access to care through the primary healthcare (PHC) system. The study was to assess essential medicines and technology for control of hypertension in PHC facilities in Ebonyi Nigeria. METHODS: The study used mixed method cross-sectional survey to assess availability, affordability and accessibility of essential medicines and technology in 45 facilities and among their patients with hypertension (145). RESULTS: Most of the PHC facilities (71.1%) assessed were rural. The heads of facilities were mainly community health extension workers (86.7%). One (2.2%) facility had a pharmacy technician. All facilities had been supervised by the regulatory authority in the last one year. Out of 15 anti-hypertensive drugs assessed, 10 were available in some facilities (2.2%–44.4%) but essential drug availability was low (<80%). Only mercury sphygmomanometers were available in all facilities with 82.2% functioning. Stethoscopes were available in all facilities and 95.6% were functional. Glucometers were present in 20.0% of facilities and were all functional. All the respondents (100.0%) reported they could not afford their anti-hypertensive drugs. Median monthly income was 8,000 Nigerian Naira (range = 2,000–52,000). Median monthly cost of anti-hypertensive drugs was 3,500 Naira (range = 1,500–10,000). For 99 (68.3%) of the respondents, the facilities were accessible. Median cost of transportation for care was 400 Naira (range = 100–2,000). CONCLUSION: Gaps still exist in the provision of hypertension control services in PHC facilities in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The essential drugs were not always available, and cost of the drugs were still a challenge to the patients. There is urgent need to expand health insurance coverage to rural communities to ameliorate the catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditures and improve control of CVDs.