ADDO Program

Sustain the Gains<>

ADDO stands for Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets, a program that was established in 2003 to improve access to essential medicines and pharmaceutical services to the population living in rural and peri-urban areas where there were no pharmacies.

The implementation of the project started in early February 2002 to July 2005 as a pilot project in Ruvuma whereby after the evaluation various options and criteria were put in place to discuss modalities on how the program could be rolled out countrywide

Under TFDA the program was rolled out countrywide successful between 2005 - 2012 and in 2013 the program was handed over to Pharmacy Council due to legislation changes through the enactment of Pharmacy Act, Cap 311.

Since 2013, the Council continued to sustain the gains obtained during the roll out phase by implementing various initiatives aimed at enhancing sustainability and maintaining the ADDO shops. These initiatives include: (i) Integrating the use of the modern ICT in the management and oversight of ADDO; (ii) Institutionalize ADDO trainings; (iii) Strengthening of the ADDO inspection and audit system; (iv) Expanding the role of ADDO Associations; and (v) Strengthening the linkage between ADDOs, Community Health Workers and Health Facility services.

During this phase, other countries have visited Tanzania to learn the best practices and some of them adopted the ADDO model. To date 13 countries visited include Uganda, Liberia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, DRC Congo, Burundi, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zambia and Madagascar.

Until August 2019, over 25578 ADDO dispensers have been trained and 14,036 outlets are accredited to dispense medicines in rural areas.

Distribution of ADDOs in Tanzania

More information about the program frorm its inception, rollout, challenges and success stories kindly click Improving access to essential medicines in Tanzania: Role of ADDO program