The SIAPS approach to engaging the retail pharmacy sector combines strategies in the access framework and recommendations from the WHO and International Pharmaceutical Federation joint statement in 2010, which strongly emphasized the importance of pharmacists’ contributions to different tasks essential for quality TB care. The key overarching strategy is to build broad stakeholder involvement that includes national programs (NTPs), professional associations, … Read more
As part of an ongoing pilot project to engage about 500 private retail pharmacies in six cities of Pakistan (Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, and Sukkur) in the early detection and referral of tuberculosis (TB) cases, stakeholders in the National TB Program (NTP) have discussed the potential of pharmacies providing DOTS to clients. The present … Read more
A 2010 prevalence survey in Pakistan showed that the rate of bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB among the adult population is very high. Case detection is important for TB control, allowing service providers to identify sources of infection and treat them to break the chain of infection in a community. For this reason, low TB case … Read more
“Health care is not about what doctors and nurses do in hospitals…there are a range of different stakeholders that need to play their parts.” This comment by key note speaker Dr. Sania Nishtar at the “Engaging Pharmacists in TB Care and Control in Pakistan” stakeholders’ meeting this week in Islamabad, Pakistan, highlighted the importance of … Read more
