RESUMEN
In order to increase the effectiveness and the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment procedures of the most common diseases, algorithmic pathways have been developed and applied within the implementation of the "Bamako Initiative Strategy" at the health post level in Senegal. Among the many expected advantages of these pathways, was a reduction of abusive prescriptions of parental drugs. A study comparing the trend of the prescriptions 2 years before (1991) and 2 years after (1996) the implementation of the Bamako Initiative strategy, was conducted using 810 randomly selected patients in 7 out of the 19 health posts of the Tambacounda Health district, one of the 45 health districts of Senegal. In 1991, all the oral drugs prescribed (sirup, pills, powder) represented 54.5% against 45.5% for parental drugs (intramuscular and intravenous drugs). These proportions had risen to respectively 78.1% and 21.9% in 1996. The difference thus observed is statistically significant with a khi2 test of 47.76 and p<10(-7). This result then suggests that the use of pathways had highly reduced the prescription of parental drugs among patients treated in the health posts of the Tambacounda health district in Senegal.