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Purpose This article aims to highlight the distribution and growing acceptance of electronic pharmacies through the National Electronic Pharmacy Platform (NEPP) among Ghanaian citizens. Methodology A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted, analyzing transaction data from 84 out of the 226 electronic pharmacies registered with NEPP. The d...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... proactive stance will not only bridge existing gaps but also play a pivotal role in cultivating a more balanced dissemination of ePharmacies, thereby fostering a more inclusive and widespread adoption of NEPP throughout the entirety of Ghana. Table 2 provides a concise overview of the prescription count and corresponding value associated with private health insurance, spanning from January to June 2023. Notably, both the prescription count and value exhibit an upward trajectory, steadily increasing from January through June. ...Similar publications
Background
Community pharmacists are now the most accessible healthcare professionals, providing advice, information, drugs, and devices across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Thailand, accredited community pharmacies meet higher standards than qualified community pharmacies, but little is known about the perspectives of accredited commu...
Background
Pharmacy practice research often focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of pharmacy services and interventions. The use of behavioural theory in intervention research allows understanding of interventions’ mechanisms of action and are more likely to result in effective and sustained interventions.
Aim
To collate, summarise...
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Pharmacists are well-positioned to help increase pediatric immunization rates. This study assessed the types of pediatric vaccines offered in community pharmacies, compared participant/pharmacy characteristics and participants’ perceptions of barriers and pharmacists’ role in providing pediatric immunizations between pharmacy-based providers and no...
Citations
... 8,9 Since the nationwide launch of NEPP, the enrolment of pharmacies has swelled from 45 to over 226, although the distribution has not been uniform across all regions of Ghana. 10 Considering the enormity of these pioneering initiatives in a region where pharmacists have always played a critical role in the provision of health and pharmaceutical services, working closely with people (and sometimes as their go-to "doctors"), 11 it is important to understand their perspectives as they would be directly engaged and responsible for operating these online platforms. However, there is a complete dearth of such studies on online pharmacies in Ghana or even in the context of the sub-Saharan African countries. ...
... Further, with engagement of pharmacists, they may then act as opinion leaders who speak favorably about the online pharmacy innovation and are able to influence others to join, given that the growth of online pharmacy has been slow and uneven. 10 Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many pharmacy organizations outlining guidelines to support pharmacists in carrying out their core responsibilities (like patient education, referral to other health care providers, provision of vaccinations, and medication dispensing at a time of increased prescription volumes), yet in many cases the pharmacists found these guidelines to be inadequate and ambiguous where they would be directed to other websites for information, without any clear and specific guidelines. 19 While this was primarily the case with the developed world where online pharmacies have been in action for a while, in case of developing countries, the overall lack of proper regulation, despite a growing need for online pharmacies, left pharmacists grappling in dark and often resulting in inappropriate use of medications. ...
Background
Online pharmacies continue to grow worldwide, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ghana is experiencing this growth in an unprecedented way since its government initiated an online pharmacy pilot in December 2021, which was followed by the launch of the National Electronic Pharmacy Platform in July 2022. This pioneering initiative calls for extensive research with pharmacists to gain their perspectives. However, there is a dearth of such studies in the sub-Saharan African countries.
Objective
This study sought to understand how pharmacists in Ghana perceive online pharmacies in terms of the larger socio-cultural and policy implications, as well as the challenges they face in its implementation.
Methods
Using a qualitative research design, local licensed pharmacists were recruited through purposive sampling and by specifically combining the maximum variation and snowball sample techniques. Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 21 pharmacists over the months of February and March 2022. The data were analyzed by using interpretive thematic analysis.
Results
Pharmacists perceived that online pharmacies would transform the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana by making it convenient for people to access medication easily and at a reasonable price, while also offering them privacy. However, concerns were expressed around existing poor infrastructure and inequities, low health literacy, and inadequate regulatory practices that could pose major challenges in the operation of this platform. Engagement of stakeholders was deemed essential for success.
Conclusion
Online pharmacy in Ghana and much of the developing world has the potential to transform and advance the pharmaceutical industry to better serve people. However, it could also lead to increased and irrational use of medications, if not properly regulated. Government, policy makers, and leaders in the field of digital health and pharmacy must also address poor infrastructure and inequities in digital access.
Objective
With the ongoing push for greater digitalization of healthcare in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), the larger questions around who will benefit most from such efforts and what elements of disparities and inequities may further be created or reinforced are often overlooked. This study was undertaken to assess a pioneering e-pharmacy initiative in Ghana that aimed to explore issues of access and disparities in relation to pharmaceutical services.
Method
The study used a qualitative research design where semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 21 licensed community pharmacists recruited through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis approach.
Results
Pharmacists recognized the transformative potential of e-pharmacies, particularly in resource constrained regions that face issues of pharmacy and healthcare deserts. However, drawing on their experiential knowledge, they highlighted the paradoxes and challenges of promoting digitalization of healthcare in a country characterized by poor infrastructure, poverty, and multiple intersecting layers of inequities, as well as digital divides and low digital/health literacy. In the absence of adequate infrastructure, funding support and regulation, the possibility of local pharmacies, often the first point of care, being replaced by big corporations was feared. Participants also cautioned to steer the discourse of e-pharmacy away from access, pricing, and convenience to safety and quality.
Conclusion
Digitalization of healthcare and e-pharmacies holds tremendous potential in the LMICs. However, such technological initiatives, if implemented without proper groundwork and adequate support, would run the risk of creating and exacerbating health disparities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. A bottom-up approach, through grassroot engagement and implementation science, tethered to building safe, affordable, and equitable infrastructure and access to care will be essential for the success of e-pharmacy and other digitalization initiatives in the region and beyond. This research has direct implications for public health, policy, and pharmaceutical care.
