Assessment of Medicines Cold Chain Storage Conformity with the National Requirements in Governmental Health Care Facilities of Nekemte Town, Western Ethiopia

Background and objective: Cold chain’ is the system of transporting and storing vaccines within the safe temperature range of 2°C to 8°C. Evidence from studies conducted in different countries indicate that good vaccine practices are lacking even in developed and still developing countries. Limited research has been carried out in Ethiopia with regard to cold chain management of vaccines. Thus, this study aimed to assess medicines cold chain storage conformity with the national necessities in public health facilities of Nekemte town. Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study design was employed in governmental health care facilities of Nekemte town from June to July, 2018. A face to face interview using semi-structured questionnaires was used to collect primary data among all health Workers. The collected data was entered and analyzed using SPSS V.20. Result: From the total of 99 study participants 55.5% were males. Among all the respondents’ more than half (59.6%) were ever attended training on storage, distribution and handling procedures of cold chain medicines. Even though the national guidelines recommends the storage temperature of most vaccines is between +2°C to +8°C, only about 44 (44.4%) respondents were practicing the recommended temperature range for most cold chain medicines stored in refrigerators. Majority, 69 (69.7%) of the respondents said that storage device equipped with thermometers. Similarly the study indicated that most of the health care facilities (56.25%) had a thermometer in refrigerator. Temperature monitoring being recorded was not statistically significant difference with the compliance with storage temperature (P=0.08) Conclusion: The study revealed that less than half of the respondents did not comply with storage temperature as per the national standard. Indeed, all these affect the quality of temperature sensitive medicines and risk for public health. Health care facilities should develop and adhere to detailed written routine vaccine storage and handling pla