ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE IN NIGERIA: HOW GOVERNMENT POLICY CAN STRENGTHEN THE FUTURE EXTENDED ROLE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIES
By: Bidemi Ojo
Tags: Pharmacy, Government, Healthcare, Technology, Pharmaceutical

ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE IN NIGERIA: HOW GOVERNMENT POLICY CAN STRENGTHEN THE FUTURE EXTENDED ROLE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIES Bidemi Ojo Oct 17, 2019·2 min read

Health is a fundamental human right. More to the point, good health is essential to meeting the sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. In actual fact, the UNDP in 2018 has said that Universal health coverage is integral to achieving the SDG 3 of good health and well-being in Nigeria.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this year even released a report during the 2019 World Health Day, with the theme “Universal Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere,” called on governments all over the world to ensure universal health coverage by making quality health services affordable to all with three objectives of achieving it, which include ensuring everyone who needs healthcare service gets it, irrespective of their financial status, the quality of healthcare services should be good enough to improve health, in addition to ensuring people who seek healthcare services should be protected from financial risk.

Here in Nigeria, reforming the health sector has been a constant topic of national discourse, with community pharmacy increasingly gaining prominence for its immense contribution to healthcare development.

However, with Nigeria’s plan to achieve universal healthcare in 2030, standard pharmacies may now have to step forward to play a higher role beyond dispensing medicines, since they are the first point of contact for patients including over 94 million people who cannot afford high-quality healthcare due to poverty.

For instance, under my leadership as Co-founder/CEO of Gleeworld Pharmacy, a Lagos-based next-generation primary care pharmacy, we have been providing access to high quality healthcare for all regardless of income levels or where they live; not just only safe and affordable medicines but also minor ailment treatment and care especially in the areas of reminders for medication adherence, patient education and follow-up support, through patient-centred care approach and patient engagement powered by artificial intelligence technology.

This piece of writing set out to demonstrate that a viable pathway to UHC through expanding pharmacy-led primary healthcare exists in Nigeria; and that the integration of medicine retailers into the formal health-care system would increase access to high-quality, primary health-care services throughout Nigeria.

To support laudable initiatives of this kind, the government through the pharmacy regulatory agencies can do a lot more through policy development and compliance in the areas of reviewing pharmacists’ curriculum in order to build the capacity to carry out these expanded roles. Also, regulatory agencies may need to soft-pedal on certain aspects of their laws that restrict the operations of pharmacists to effectively deliver on this new role.

In all, pharmacist have the capacity to handle minor ailments especially when aided by technology, either through digital diagnostic equipment, electronic patient records software, or electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) application. With a lot more regulatory support, we can achieve universal healthcare for all faster and easier