Early in 2008, EPN developed tools and a protocol to map out and identify pharmaceutical human resources in the church health services in sub Saharan Africa and the available training facilities. The purpose of this exercise was to identify the capacities of human resources available within church health services as a starting point for working towards building this capacity. It is expected that enhancing the capacity of human resources will contribute to increasing access to medicines. In addition EPN wanted to link with pharmaceutical personnel who wish to get support in the form of regular pharmaceutical and other relevant information.  

After collecting, analyzing and sharing the data, EPN will be able to do advocacy for increases in the numbers of pharmaceutical personnel. The methodology used by EPN to carry out the study was through questionnaires which were completed at institution level, individual pharmacy staff level and national levels. 

In 2008 and 2009, mapping studies were done in Cameroon (CBC), Chad (Koyom), Kenya (MEDS), Malawi CHAM), Nigeria (Chan Medi-Pharm), Rwanda (BUFMAR) and Tanzania (MEMS). In December 2010, a mapping study started in Ghana.
So far, the results generally revealed that, except for Nigeria, there were very few pharmacists in the Church health sector. While in Cameroon and Tanzania 64% and 63% of the staff in pharmaceutical departments had received some pharmaceutical training, in Malawi only 12% of staff had. In Cameroon and Tanzania, 15% and 19% of the surveyed institutions had no pharmaceutically trained personnel at all. In Nigeria and Kenya 33% and 31% of the pharmacy departments are headed by non-pharmaceutically trained staff.

Back to the main page Professionalization of pharmaceutical services