The ability of parents to follow medical prescriptions is indispensable for proper management of sick children. Too often, the treatments prescribed are not correctly followed by African mothers. The physician should have time for careful and complete instructions, which the mother should repeat to assure comprehension. The physician should also take the time to correct any false information the mother may have. Medications prescribed should be geared to the economic capacity of the parents and limited to the one or two indispensable medications. Dosage levels are often difficult for illiterate women to grasp. The health personnel or pharmacist should explain that doses should not be increased if the patient does not improve and that they should be administered at the prescribed times. Mothers should be advised of possible secondary effects. Parents should be instructed to use the medication for the entire prescribed duration, rather than abandoning it when improvement is observed. Combinations of medications are sometimes needed, but experience has demonstrated that poorly educated persons in disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances have great difficulty in administering different medications on different schedules. A literate father can improve administration of medications, but fathers seldom attend consultations. Nurses, other health personnel, and pharmacists can also repeat the instructions and stress the need to respect dosage levels and schedules of administration.