Cold chain management practices of non-vaccine commodities in public health facilities of Rwenzori Region, Western Uganda

BACKGROUND: Despite the evidence that cold chain management practices affect the potency and effectiveness of both vaccines and non-vaccine commodities, most of the researches in Uganda focus on vaccines. This study assessed the cold chain management practices of non-vaccine cold chain commodities in public health facilities of the Rwenzori Region, Uganda. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a random sample of 69 level III and IV health facilities. The respondents were store managers at health facilities. Data on stock and storage management practices and level of knowledge on cold chain management were assessed. Data were collected and entered into Microsoft excel 2017, cleaned, and later exported into IBM SPSS version 26 for analysis. The management practices were graded as poor (< 50% score), fair (50–75% score), or good (> 75% score). RESULTS: Results from the 69 facilities indicated that the stock management practices were graded as fair for lesser than half of the facilities 28 (40.6%). Few facilities were correctly filling stock cards 20 (29%) and conducting physical inventories 19 (27.5%). The refrigerator storage management practices were fair for nearly half of the facilities 32 (46.4%). Among the facilities that had a refrigerator 53 (76.8%), 39 (70.9%) utilized it for storing both vaccines and non-vaccine commodities. The cold chain management practices at service delivery points were fair for 32 (46.4%) health centers. A larger proportion of the participants 69 (65%) had knowledge of cold chain storage. Most of the participants 47 (67.8%) were knowledgeable about the heat sensitivity of the cold chain commodities, however, almost half (48.1%) of them lacked knowledge on refrigerator use. CONCLUSION: The management practices for non-vaccine cold chain commodities in health centers were fair. More than a third of the facility store managers lacked knowledge on cold chain management practices for non-vaccine commodities. There is a need to strengthen the capacity of the facilities’ store managers and provide equipment specific for non-vaccine cold chain commodities.