The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has urged the Federal Government to introduce a nationwide ‘Pharmacy First’ protocol to allow neighborhood pharmacies to establish suspected Ebola instances early and strengthen illness surveillance on the grassroots.
The affiliation stated integrating neighborhood pharmacists into Nigeria’s nationwide illness surveillance system would enhance early detection of infectious ailments, facilitate well timed referrals and cut back stress on secondary and tertiary healthcare services.
In a place assertion signed by its National Chairman, Ezeh Ambrose, ACPN known as on federal and state governments to formally recognise neighborhood pharmacies as companions in epidemic preparedness and first healthcare supply.
It stated the proposed protocol may very well be deployed throughout the nation’s 774 native authorities areas, bringing early symptom recognition and referral providers nearer to communities, significantly these with restricted entry to standard healthcare services.
“We consider it necessary to sensitise and mobilise the federal government to approve specific investment plans to leverage the Pharmacy First Initiative as a front-line Ebola detection protocol, which stands as one of the best mechanisms to catalyse Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Nigeria,” the assertion learn.
Under the proposed initiative, neighborhood pharmacists would play a broader public well being function past allotting medicines to incorporate recognising signs of infectious ailments, offering well being training, conducting acceptable fundamental screening and referring suspected instances to designated well being services.
The affiliation stated structured referral pathways might assist make sure that people presenting with signs suggestive of Ebola obtain immediate medical evaluation and testing, whereas supporting contact-tracing efforts and lowering the danger of publicity in crowded hospital settings.
“At the centre of strategising for epidemic response and Universal Health Coverage, governments at all levels must structure community pharmacies to provide first-line Ebola screening and Primary Health Care services through better access to essential drugs and management of uncomplicated diseases, which ultimately reduces the burden of services on secondary and tertiary health facilities,” it said.
ACPN additionally known as on neighborhood pharmacists to enhance operational requirements, modernise their practices and improve their services to satisfy the calls for of expanded public well being tasks.
“In view of changing times, Community Pharmacists must respond accordingly to explore investment opportunities with free funds to achieve the goals of Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) in the realistic interest of patients,” the assertion added.
However, the affiliation recognized gaps in coverage management, digital integration, proof technology, high quality enchancment and collaboration amongst healthcare professionals as challenges to efficient epidemic preparedness and response.
To deal with these gaps, it proposed a five-point reform framework centered on growing a unified imaginative and prescient for epidemic preparedness, bettering scientific high quality and public belief, integrating digital know-how into routine pharmacy apply, strengthening collaboration with main healthcare centres and constructing partnerships with medical insurance suppliers.
It additionally known as for standardised reporting programs to allow neighborhood pharmacies to transmit related surveillance knowledge to nationwide well being databases, offering public well being authorities with well timed data to observe illness patterns and detect potential outbreaks.
Citing worldwide experiences, the affiliation stated neighborhood pharmacy networks had helped maintain entry to important healthcare providers and assist frontline scientific actions throughout public well being emergencies. It referenced the United Kingdom for instance of a rustic the place neighborhood pharmacies have helped preserve entry to care throughout disruptions to standard medical providers.
Pharm. Ezeh stated integrating neighborhood pharmacies into Nigeria’s main healthcare system would enhance entry to important providers and strengthen the nation’s capability to answer public well being emergencies.
He warned that delays in establishing efficient grassroots surveillance mechanisms might undermine outbreak response efforts and expose healthcare employees, sufferers and the broader inhabitants to avoidable dangers.
“We cannot afford to repeat past missteps where delayed grassroots surveillance allowed outbreaks to spiral out of control. If the Federal Government fails to integrate community pharmacies into this primary protocol, our major hospitals will inevitably become ground zero for cross-infection, overwhelmed before an outbreak is even fully mapped. Leaving community pharmacies out of the first line of defence is not just a missed opportunity; it is an unacceptable hazard to national health security,” he stated.
The ACPN chairman known as on President Bola Tinubu to subject an government directive to facilitate the quick implementation of the proposed protocol, arguing that the prevailing neighborhood pharmacy community might assist its speedy rollout.
“Every day of delay places an unnecessary burden on our tertiary hospitals and leaves millions of Nigerians without accessible early detection. Community pharmacies are already fully staffed, equipped, and embedded across all 774 Local Government Areas. We require zero infrastructure expenditure from the government to deploy this immediately. We urge President Bola Tinubu to issue the enabling policy directive today, and our national network will activate the ‘Pharmacy First’ screening protocol within 48 hours,” Ezeh declared.
The affiliation urged the Tinubu administration and the Federal Ministry of Health to ascertain a joint job power to develop and formalise the framework, together with scientific pointers, referral procedures, illness surveillance protocols and coordination mechanisms for neighborhood pharmacists.
It maintained that with acceptable authorities assist, skilled requirements and integration into the nationwide surveillance system, neighborhood pharmacies might function an essential hyperlink between communities and Nigeria’s wider epidemic response community.
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