The International Narcotics Control Board¹⁵ has published the following figures for the consumption of narcotic drugs in Swaziland: dihydrocodeine 1kg; pethidine 1kg.

For the years 2000-2002, the average defined daily dose consumption of morphine for statistical purposes (S-DDD)¹⁶ in Swaziland was 1. This compares with other African countries as follows: Egypt 2; Uganda 4; Zimbabwe 13; Namibia 73; South Africa 103. Twenty nine countries reported no morphine consumption during 2000-2002 (Table 3).

Table 3 Average daily consumption of defined daily doses (for statistical purposes) of morphine per million inhabitants, 2000-2002: countries of Africa

Source: International Narcotics Control Board Narcotic Drugs: Estimated World Requirements for 2004. Statistics for 2002. New York: United Nations, 2004.

Sibusiso Dlamini writes:

Morphine syrup is not [generally] available in the country, but there are morphine tablets. These are prescribed by doctors only. I have personally been talking to the chief pharmacist asking them to avail morphine syrup as it’s cheap and easy to use for clients, but until now this has not been attended to by the government.³

Thulie Msane describes how morphine and other drugs are prescribed and supplied to Swaziland Hospice at Home patients:

Morphine syrup is only made available as needed per patient. It is not stocked in large volumes. This can be accessed by patients as indicated. Hospice is the custodian of morphine as alluded to by the home based care manual for Swaziland.

Morphine is prescribed with the assistance of a visiting doctor, after the patient has gone through the pain management protocol – a new nursing diagnosis to manage pain - and morphine is indicated. Other drugs are prescribed by nurses after they have made a physical assessment and come up with a nursing diagnosis. All prescribed medication are supplied to patients by hospice nurses.¹⁷

Parish nurses use analgesics such as Stilpayne, Painagon and Tylenol; they do not give morphine.