A number of low resource countries are facing a severe and prolonged shortage of health workers, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector where pharmacists, pharmacy assistants, and technicians are becoming especially scarce. With treatment programs, such as those for HIV/AIDS and TB, expanding in many countries, more pharmacists and pharmacy assistants are required to provide effective services. Additionally, overstretched pharmacists and other healthcare workers are often unable to provide effective patient-centered pharmaceutical care which recognized as a critical opportunity to prevent drug resistance, reduce irrational medicines use, eliminate wasteful spending, and most importantly, improve patient health outcomes.
