Availability and prescription of misoprostol for medical abortion in community pharmacies and associated factors in Accra, Ghana.

OBJECTIVE

To assess misoprostol availability at community pharmacies and determine factors affecting misoprostol prescription for medical abortion.

METHODS

A cross-sectional quantitative survey of randomly sampled community pharmacies and their corresponding pharmacists/pharmacy workers was conducted in the city of Accra, Ghana. Structured questionnaires were administered to collect data between May 1 and July 28, 2016. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and proportions) and bivariate and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Of the 165 community pharmacies surveyed, approximately half (83 [50.3%]) stocked misoprostol. Availability of misoprostol however decreased when moving from first class to third class residential areas. 44 (26.7%) of the respondents had prescribed the drug at some time for medical abortion, but 140 (84.6%) indicated they would not prescribe the drug for medical abortion in future. Factors that significantly predicted misoprostol prescription for medical abortion included sex of the pharmacist/pharmacy worker, demand, and availability of misoprostol.

CONCLUSIONS

Demand for misoprostol for medical abortion was found to be high but only half of community pharmacies stocked it, and most pharmacy workers did not wish to prescribe the drug. If community pharmacies are to effectively contribute to expanding access to safe abortion services in Ghana, the disparity between misoprostol provision and demand needs to be addressed.