Simplifying ART cohort monitoring: Can pharmacy stocks provide accurate estimates of patients retained on antiretroviral therapy in Malawi?

Table 1 Comparison of total numbers of patients retained on ART between clinic cohort reports and pharmacy stock cards data in paper-based ART facilities

	Quarter two (April to June 2010)			Quarter three (July to September 2010)
ART facility	Clinic	Pharmacy stock cards	Precision (%)*	Clinic	Pharmacy stock cards	Precision (%)*
	cohort report			cohort-report
*Health Centres*
Bangwe	1,567	1,575	101%	1,689	1,676	99%
Chipini	779	790	101%	838	913	109%
Ndirande	1,886	1,606	85%	2,008	2,079	104%
*Total*	*4,232*	*3,971*	*94%*	*4,535*	*4,668*	*103%*
*District Hospital*
Mchinji	2,027	2,455	121%	2,129	2,203	103%
Mangochi^₣	4,519	4,962	110%	-	-	-
Malamulo	2,140	2,186	102%	2,216	2,188	99%
*Total*	*8,686*	*9,603*	*111%*	*101%*	*4,345*	*4,391*

^₣Mangochi was excluded in quarter three analysis because of the introduction of an electronic data system. *Precision is a measure of the degree of agreement for ART retention estimates from pharmacy stock records versus clinic cohort report estimates.

ISSN: 1472-6963