- Knowledge
of HIV/AIDS and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS among pharmacists in Zimbabwe
Muzarurwi, P. and Ball, D.
HIV/AIDS is a world-wide problem
with care of the sufferers of the disease depending on all members of the
health care team. Pharmacists can play a pivotal role by counselling, advising
and monitoring drug use in these patients. This study set out to assess
the knowledge and attitudes of pharmacist in Zimbabwe towards HIV/AIDS.
A self-administered Likert style questionnaire was distributed to 297 pharmacists
and pharmacy student assessing knowledge of HIV/AIDS, fear of contagion,
professional resistance and negative emotions. It also had open ended questions
on the role of the pharmacist. 126 questionnaires were returned. All pharmacists
scored amongst academics and pharmacy students. Medical books/ journal
and professional colleagues were the most important source of information
about HIV/AIDS. Males seemed to have a greater knowledge of HIV than females,
and older pharmacist (>40 years) showed a trend of a lower fear of contagion
than their juniors. No significant differences were found on subscales
between pharmacists in different areas of practice. Whilst pharmacists
showed good knowledge on aspects of HIV transmission there are some negative
attitudes towards AIDS patients with a majority of respondents feeling
that patients should be referred to professionals colleagues or specialists
for counselling and treatment. Some believed that HIV-positive women should
not be allowed to fall pregnant or should undergo abortions if pregnant.
These negative attitudes may have been due to an association of HIV/AIDS
with promiscuity. 95 of the subjects believed the pharmacist has a role
to play in prevention of HIV/AIDS through dissemination of information,
distribution and sale of condoms. A majority 85% also saw a role in the
care of AIDS patients by means of counselling provisions of medication,
monitoring for adverse drug interactions and advice on proper nutrition
for the AIDS patients. Most pharmacists and the HIV/AIDS epidemic had positively
affected business through increased selling of condoms and medicines. Pharmacists
were found to generally have good knowledge of HIV/AIDS and felt they had
a role to play in control of the spread of HIV and treatment of AIDS patients.
However, some negative attitudes were present which may be minimised by
continuing education programmes if made compulsory.
- Patient
and doctor perception of generic drugs
Ntuli, M. and Chinyanganya,
F.
Objective: To gain insight into
the patient and doctors perception of generic drugs and the factors influencing
their perception. Setting : 6 research sites covering the socio-economic
status of patients were covered. Design: A questionnaire survey was carried
out on chronic patients and doctors in the research sites. Three weeks
later group interviews were done in three of the research sites. Doctors
were interviewed individually on questions bases on the data gathered.
Supplementary information was gathered through analysis of prescribing
data for April to July 1995 from dispensing books. Main outcome measures:
Acceptability of generic drugs, their substitution, prescribing and labelling.
Comprehension on novel terms bioequivalence , generic equivalence and therapeutic
equivalence. Items per patient in generic and in the Essential Drug List
of Zimbabwe. Results: 297 patients and 25 doctors participated in the study.
39 patients (13%) mostly from high socio-economic class knew about generic
drugs through Commercial and Industrial Medical Aid Society (CIMAS) promotions.
These patients together with elderly patients (23%) preferred brands due
to proven efficacy. Generic medicines were highly accepted by patients
of low socio-economic status (77%). Changes in colour, taste and shape
undermined the confidence of patients, particularly the elderly. Substitution
by the pharmacist and changing of prescribed brand name to generic resulted
in patients first seeking advice before taking the medicine. Doctors. prescribed
according to the patients needs resulting in their prescribing behaviour
closely mimicking the patients attitudes. Attitudes towards generic labelling
showed that doctors though quality control was relaxed with generic drugs,
which meant increased price emphasis and competition compromised the quality.
Product liability was indicated by doctors as the main problem with generic
medicines. Comprehension of the novel terms was inversely related to years
of practice and attitudes towards generic medicines. Illiterate medical
representatives of generic companies, whose existence is facilitated by
health insurers, the reputation of specific companies and shortness of
some brand names are some of the reasons for the option of specific brand
names. Conclusion: Doctors and patients have very little knowledge about
generic drugs. A major health campaign is needed to educate both doctors,
who are willing to prescribe generics, on how generic drugs are brought
to the market, and the patients on drug use, so that doctors can safely
prescribe generically and the patient would choose what's best for them.
- The
formulation of a cream using an essential oil which acts against skin pathogens
Nyatsanza, T. and Gundidza,
M.
The essential oils from Colophospermum
mopane and Ocimum urticifolium were extracted and quantified from fresh
plant leaves by hydrodistillation. Investigations were carried out on potential
antibacterial and antifungal activity. Analysis was by Gas Chromatography.
The antibacterial properties were determined by using the hole plate diffusion
method and the mycelium growth inhibition method was used to test for their
antifungal activity. The results obtained showed that the essential oil
from C. mopane was more active than the oil from O. urticifolium in both
the antifungal and antibacterial activity. It was therefore decided to
incorporate C. mopane oil into a cleansing cream at a concentration of
10% v/v. Pure C. mopane oil was active against eight bacterial species.
The cream was active against three of them. The inhibitory effect of the
cream against the four fungi was also reduced in comparison to the essential
oil solution. These were only preliminary in vitro studies and therefore
in vivo studies must be carried out on the cream to determine the safety
of the product and if it can lead to a decline in acquisition of fungal
infections.
- A
comparative study of the bioavailability of rifampicin in fixed dose combination
with isoniazid
Rabvukwa, P. and Nyazema, N.
While fixed dose combination formulations
of Rifampicin and Isoniazid offer many therapeutic advantages, the issue
of bioavailability of these TB drugs in combination has remained controversial.
The importance of bioavailability studies cannot be over emphasised in
light of the upsurge of TB cases due in part, to failure of TB control
programmes, poor compliance, microbial resistance and immunosuppression
in HIV. In this study bioavailability of Rifampicin in fixed dose combination
was compared to that in free formulation. A comparison of the various pharmacokinetic
parameters revealed that there was no significant difference between these
formulations.
- The
availability of drugs and compliance to therapy of chronic patients in
the community. A case study of Chitungwiza-based patients
Sithole, S. and Ball, D.
The aim of the study was to find
out the extent of compliance of chronic disease patients and the extent
to which drugs were available at the primary level of health care. The
method used was that of interviewing patients. this method was chosen over
several other alternatives because it is convenient, relatively cheap and
requires very little labour. The level of compliance was found by comparing
the number of patients who admitted to having medication at home with those
who did not. The extent of compliance was calculated from the average number
of tablets left per patient as compared to what should have remained. Generally
diabetics were more compliant than hypertensives. Hypertensives were significantly
more compliant with appointment-keeping than diabetics. The average availability
of drugs was 67.02%. The factors which seemed to affect compliance the
most were patient attitudes and side effects of the drugs. Lack of adequate
counselling and polypharmacy were also found to be important factors which
resulted in low compliance. Most of the patients found the availability
of drugs satisfactory and when asked to buy the medication from private
pharmacies preferred to wait until it was available. Hence availability
of drugs was found to be important in attaining high levels of compliance.
It was concluded that patient education was the most important target if
compliance were to improved. Several methods of improving availability
of drugs were suggested and these included employment of a pharmacist and
the clinics raising money for their own use.
- The
Chemical and antimicrobial screening of Rapanea melanophloes
Tizora, N. and Gundidza, M.
Investigations were carried out
on potential antimicrobial activity of the methanol extract of Rapanea
melanophloes. The extraction was done by using the method of Leven and
her co-workers. For antibacterial activity, the hole plate method was used
and the plant extract showed activity against almost all the species of
used except Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinobacter calcoaceticus.
The quantitative dry weight method was used for antifungal activity. The
plant extract showed little activity against Alternaria alternata. The
plant extract was also analysed by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), Infra-red
(IR) and Ultraviolet (UV). Phytochemistry was also done on powdered plant
leaves and the results showed the presence of tannins, polyphenols, saponins
and pheobatannins. Antimicrobial activity evaluation has corroborated the
use of the plant as an anti-infectious agent in traditional medicine of
Zimbabwe.
- Adverse
events/reactions after hepatitis B vaccination
Tshuma, K. and Nyazema, N.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines
- plasma derived and recombinant - have been reported to cause adverse
events. This study was designed to identify the adverse events, their predisposing
factors and to access their causality. 377 infants, recipients of recombinant
HBV vaccine (Engerix B) took part in the study. Their mothers were questionnaire-interviewed
to accomplish the objectives of the study. Injection site accomplish the
objectives of the study. Injection site reactions and mild systemic reactions
were predominantly reported. Their frequency decreased with each subsequent
dose. The chi-square test at p<0.01 and p<0.05 confidence levels
indicated that age, sex and weight predisposed to the occurrence of adverse
events. Even though these events have been attributed to the vaccine, none
could be said with certainty to have been caused by the HBV vaccine. The
consequences of hepatitis B virus infections are much more severe compared
to the record adverse events thus the vaccine should be given a higher
priority considering the high carrier state in Zimbabwe. - The
quality control and antimicrobial activity of some Zimbabwean essential
oils
Kabudura, G. and Chagonda,
L.
No abstract available
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