Community pharmacists expanded their roles and engaged in vaccination services in many countries around the world, but not in Balkan countries. This research aimed to assess the perceptions of pharmacists on involvement in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine administration in four Balkan countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia). A cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online questionnaire that was distributed to community pharmacists across these countries between February and March 2021. A total of 636 community pharmacists were included in the analysis of the survey. The willingness to administer vaccines for COVID-19 (or other vaccines well established in the practice, like a flu vaccine) in community pharmacies is significantly different among the countries: the pharmacists from Albania were more willing to administer vaccines. The factors associated with the eagerness to vaccinate are almost the same among the countries: the lack of training in the faculty classes and the lack of a special place where to administer vaccines. Additional significant factors were found in Bulgaria (pharmacists from independent pharmacies wanted more than the pharmacists working in chain pharmacies to administer vaccines) and in Serbia (male pharmacists agreed more with administering vaccines than female pharmacists). Further national reforms are needed for adopting the expanding role of community pharmacists.
Rare diseases (RD) are very heterogenic group of disorders affecting less than 5 out of 10.000 people in the European Union (EU), at the same time putting them in danger or disabling them chronically. It is estimated that only in Serbia almost half a million people suffer from some RD. In spite of rarity, they represent an important medical and social problem.The aims of this pilot project were to evaluate the pharmacists` general knowledge and specific knowledge regarding RD, regulatory requirements and availability of drugs for the RD in the Republic of Serbia as well as pharmacists` attitudes and understanding of the health public importance of RD and drugs` availability. The prospective crosssectional KAP study was conducted during 2012, on a convenient sample of the community pharmacists from the territory of the Niš branch of Pharmaceutical Chamber of Serbia. The questionnaire was fully completed by 139 pharmacists; 89.2% were females with mean age of 43.4±9.1 years. More than half of the respondents (66.9%) knew that there was no Register of RD in Serbia, but did not know the estimated percentage of the EU population suffering and the prevalence of RD (67%, 51.8%, respectively). Insufficient information about the problem points to insecurity in basic epidemiology and regulatory knowledge. The majority of the respondents supported the establishment of the regulatory instruments for the promotion of the research and development of the orphan drugs for RD.
Objectives: Many obesity-associated diseases require intensive medical treatment and are cause of a large proportion of health-related expenditures in Germany. Treatment of obesity includes nutritional, exercise and behavior therapy, usually in combination. The goal of behavior therapy for obesity is to bring about a long-term alteration in eating and exercise habits of overweight and obese individuals. Depending of the severity of obesity, drug treatment may be indicated. To evaluate the clinical and economic effectiveness of behaviour therapy for obesity considering approved drugs reducing weight, a Health Technology Assessment was carried out in the year 2008. This HTA was updated with publications up to 12/2013, along with new developments in behavior therapies and drugs. MethOds: A systematic review was carried out using relevant electronic literature databases Publications chosen according to predefined criteria were evaluated by approved methodological standards of evidence-based medicine and health economics systematically and qualitatively. Results: Nine randomized controlled trials showed moderate but statistically significant reduction of weight in the intervention groups compared to control groups between 1.1 kg (at month 4) and 6.6 kg (at month 9). Studies with several examination time points resulted in statistically significant differences in the first evaluation time point (month 6) but not in the subsequent time points (month 12, 18, 24). The most frequent approach used for behavior therapy, was per phone or Email, two studies offered behavior therapy face-to-face. New behavior therapy approaches applied were techniques such as "Motivational Interviewing" and "Transtheoretical model". No study was identified examining behavior therapy in combination with approved drug therapy. Two identified studies evaluating cost-effectiveness of behavior therapy per Email or phone showed cost-effectiveness for this kind of intervention but the results are biased due to a high rate of drop-outs. cOnclusiOns: Behavior therapy considering new approaches is an effective method to reduce weight.
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