Determinants of the public health involvement of pharmacists in developing nations: the case of Zimbabwe

Background: There is increasing international recognition of the potential significant contribution that pharmacists can make to improve the public’s health, beyond routine provision of medicines. For this potential to be realised it is important to understand the factors that influence the uptake of this role by pharmacists. However, evidence on these factors is currently lacking, particularly for developing countries.

Purpose: To explore the determinants of the public health involvement of pharmacists in Zimbabwe.

Methods: The study utilised individual face-to-face semi-structured qualitative interviews with nine key informants purposively selected to reflect the diversity of pharmacy practice groups and levels, as well as professional experience. A
member of a patient group, and a national level public health expert were also included. Framework analysis was utilised with two independent analyses performed.

Results: The following were identified as having a significant impact on pharmacists’ public health involvement: national health priorities, general orientation of pharmacy practice, pharmacy practice regulations, training, pharmacy sector of practice, the pharmacy environment (including infrastructure and equipment), perceived need, perceptions of other health professionals and public perceptions and awareness of the role of pharmacists.

Conclusions: For the pharmacist’s potential in improving the public’s health to be realised, there is need for the recognition of public health as one of the core pharmacist’s roles at national, regulatory and practice levels, by other health professionals and the public, as well as within pharmacy training programmes.