The Institute of Public Health, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 31;18(15):8132. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18158132.
While the pharmacy workforce is the third largest professional healthcare group worldwide, the pharmacy workforce landscape remains unclear in post-conflict areas in sub-Saharan Africa.
Key informants were selected for semi-structured interviews due to their role in providing pharmacy services in the selected country: the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Transcripts from the interviews were anonymized, coded, and analyzed.
Nine participants were recruited (CAR: 2; DRC: 2; Ethiopia: 2; South Sudan: 3), and all except two were pharmacists. Conflict-specific challenges in pharmacy service delivery were identified as the following: unpredictable health needs and/or mismatched pharmaceutical supply, transport difficulties due to insecure roads, and shortage of pharmacy workforce due to brain drain or interrupted schooling. Barriers to health workforce retention and growth were identified to be brain drain as a result of suboptimal living and working conditions or remuneration, the perception of an unsafe work environment, and a career pathway or commitment duration that does not fit the diaspora or expatriate staff.
To tackle the barriers of pharmacy health workforce retention and growth, policy solutions will be required and efforts that can bring about long-term improvement should be prioritized. This is essential to achieve universal health coverage and the targets of the sustainable development goals for conflict affected areas, as well as to "leave no one behind".
尽管药剂师队伍是全球第三大专业医疗保健群体，但在撒哈拉以南非洲的冲突后地区，药剂师队伍的情况仍不清楚。
由于参与者在选定国家（中非共和国、刚果民主共和国、埃塞俄比亚和南苏丹）提供药剂服务方面发挥了作用，因此选择了关键知情人进行半结构化访谈。访谈的文字记录被匿名、编码和分析。
共招募了 9 名参与者（中非共和国：2 人；刚果民主共和国：2 人；埃塞俄比亚：2 人；南苏丹：3 人），除了两人以外，其余都是药剂师。在药剂服务提供方面发现了与冲突相关的挑战，包括：难以预测的健康需求和/或不匹配的药品供应、由于道路不安全导致的运输困难、以及由于人才流失或中断学业导致药剂师队伍短缺。阻碍卫生人力保留和增长的因素包括：由于生活和工作条件或薪酬不佳、对不安全工作环境的看法，以及职业道路或承诺期限不符合侨民或外派人员而导致的人才流失。
为了解决药剂师卫生人力保留和增长的障碍，需要制定政策解决方案，并优先考虑能够带来长期改善的努力。这对于实现普遍获得卫生保健以及受冲突影响地区可持续发展目标的目标，以及“不让任何人掉队”至关重要。
