Monitoring cotrimoxazole prophylaxis

As already mentioned, cotrimoxazole prophylaxis is usually prescribed by health professionals at the health facility/ hospital. You are not expected to prescribe the drug, but once these patients are referred back to the community you should make sure they are taking their drugs correctly. As a standard, you will need to follow-up patients on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis every month for the first three months. Later, if no problems occur and if the patient takes the drugs correctly, the follow-up can be done every three months.

Follow-up visits from you should include monitoring for side-effects, and education of the patient on the importance of taking the drugs correctly.