IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PRIMARY CARE SERVICES IN ANGOLA

As part of the evaluation of the Angolan Essential Drugs Programme in 1990, a patient management study was carried out in three provinces, to assess health workers' performance at primary level for outpatient, curative services. Out of a total of 539 consultations observed, only 65 (12%) were judged to be adequately managed in terms of being adequately diagnosed, given adequate therapy and provided with adequate information related to the therapy given. This level of quality of the curative services raises important questions about the implementation of cost-recovery mechanisms for such services, initial and refresher training programmes and the supervision of primary level health workers.