Okoro Roland Nnaemeka, Nduaguba Sabina Onyinye
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, University of Florida College of Pharmacy, USA.
Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm. 2021 Apr 13;2:100011. doi: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2021.100011. eCollection 2021 Jun.
In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), over 12 million people die yearly from chronic diseases and this number is expected to increase if concerted actions are not taken. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the roles and impact of community pharmacists in chronic disease management support and the need for policymakers in LMICs to reposition community pharmacists appropriately for this extended role. Recent findings have shown that community pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers to the members of the community. Published evidence have demonstrated that community pharmacists' interventions in chronic diseases significantly improve economic, clinical, and humanistic outcomes. However, they are not officially recognized as primary healthcare providers in LMICs. Therefore, there is need for policy reforms that will encourage strategic use of the clinical skills of community pharmacists as part of the primary healthcare team in LMICs.
在低收入和中等收入国家(LMICs),每年有超过1200万人死于慢性病,如果不采取协调一致的行动,这一数字预计还会上升。本文的目的是强调社区药剂师在慢性病管理支持中的作用和影响,以及LMICs的政策制定者需要重新恰当地定位社区药剂师以发挥这一扩展作用。最近的研究结果表明,社区药剂师是社区成员最容易接触到的医疗保健提供者。已发表的证据表明,社区药剂师对慢性病的干预显著改善了经济、临床和人文结局。然而,在LMICs中,他们并未被正式认可为初级医疗保健提供者。因此,需要进行政策改革,鼓励战略性地利用社区药剂师的临床技能,使其成为LMICs初级医疗保健团队的一部分。