The involvement of the pharmacist in the fight against HIV/AIDS
Posted by pharmaceutical on July 24, 2007
Recently published statistics regarding the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, revealed that South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive people in the world. Mail & Guardian (23 July 2007, Sydney, Australia) reports the following: ”according to the United Nations, close to 40-million people worldwide are infected with the Aids virus and treatment had dramatically expanded from 240 000 people in 2001 to 1,3-million by 2005. South Africa has regained its number-one spot as the country with the greatest number of HIV-positive people, after the official estimate of India’s HIV-positive population was more than halved. It is now estimated that 2,47-million people out of India’s more than 1,1-billion population have HIV, down from 5,7-million previously. An estimated 5,5-million South Africans carry the virus out of a total population of approximately 47-million”.
It is only logical that pharmacists are involved in the treatment of HIV patients at different levels. The Mail & Guardian report stated that an absence of proper pharmaceutical storage had seen HIV/Aids drugs expire before they could be administered. This is clearly an area which needs to be monitored closely, from manufacturing of the drug to distribution and eventually ordering stock for the hospital or pharmacy. This is supported by guidelines published in a position paper by the South African Pharmacy Council. The report stated that pharmacists must be utilised to ensure the supply of appropriate drugs for the prevention and treatment of opportunistic and HIV related diseases and by managing the procurement, distribution and use of these drugs.
It was also mentioned that pharmacists play an important role in monitoring the cost of drugs, assisting with budgeting and forecasting demand of e.g.
· parenteral nutrition,
· antibiotics,
· anti-virals,
· anti-retrovirals,
· relevant vaccines,
· TB drugs, and
· antifungal drugs.
Evidently, pharmacists plays a key role in the management of HIV/AIDS. Pharmacists are active in different pharmaceutical fields and may therefore be presented with opportunities to become involved in various ways. The role of the pharmacist would therefore be determined by his/her area of speciality or the work he/she is currently doing, thereby contributing to the global effort in fighting this disease.
