Gedif, Teferi (PhD)Tadesse, Esayas2018-06-192023-11-062018-06-192023-11-062017-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/1467Medicines wastage occurs when medicines are damaged, obsoleted or expired and become unsafe for use. It is a burden to many health facilities and increases cost to the health care system. In Ethiopia, although there are reports that reveal the presence of wasted medicines in the country, there is limited objective evidence on the type and extent of medicines wastage as well as its contributing factors. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine medicines wastage rate and to identify its contributing factors in the sampled public health facilities of South West Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The study employed a facility based cross-sectional survey and qualitative study in one hospital and nine health centers from May 2- 27, 2016. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used in the study. The quantitative data was collected by data abstraction formats and self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. The analysis was performed in aggregate and included descriptive statistics. And the qualitative data was collected through in-depth interview with the heads of the health facility and pharmacy case team leaders and analyzed using thematic analysis. The total monetary value of wasted medicines in the surveyed health facilities in EFY 2005-2007 was 500,522.09 Ethiopian Birr, while in the same period all surveyed health facilities received medicines worth of 6,635,910.97 Ethiopian Birr, resulting wastage rate of 7.5%. Of the total value of wasted medicines, anti-infectives (39.1%), medicines used for correcting water, electrolyte and acid-base balance (12.9%) and GIT medicines (10.6%) were the top three therapeutic classes. Oral rehydration salt 245osml/l powder (6.3%), metronidazole 250mg capsule (4.1%), and tetracycline 250mg capsules (3.2%) were also the most commonly wasted medicines. More than half of the wasted medicines were in solid dosage forms (54.3%), followed by liquid dosage forms (40.8%) and nearly 96% of the source for wastage was expiry of medicines. IX In both quantitative and qualitative study, delivery of near expiry date medicines by suppliers, lack of system to move nearly expired medicines from one facility to another, presence of over stocked medicines due to improper forecasting of need in the facilities, lack of electronic stock management tools and shortage of pharmacy professionals in the health facilities were identified as contributing factors for medicines wastage. In conclusion, the extent of medicines wastage in public health facilities of South West Shoa Zone was estimated to be 7.5%. It is recommended that the health facilities should document and maintain a written record of all medicines wastage. A mechanism of exchanging medicines from overstock to under stock areas should be created, and a strong partnership or a common plat forum should be established among key stake holders to have regular discussion on preventive strategies. Key words: Medicines wastage, wastage rate, expired medicines, public health facility, EthiopiaenMedicines wastage;wastage rate; expired medicinesThesis