Pilot Study of the Role of Pharmacists in the Use of Veterinary Pharmaceutical Products in Harare and Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Moroccan Retail Pharmacists towards Veterinary Medicines

“…This was explained by the fact that Zimbabwean laws allow dispensing veterinary medicines only by pharmacists. Matema et al showed that stocking these medicines was associated with feeling competent in veterinary pharmacy [ 10 ]. In the United Kingdom, 64% of pharmacists dispensed veterinary medicines and 55% stocked veterinary medicines in 2012.…”

“…In general, our study revealed that less than half of the pharmacists were highly satisfied regarding their knowledge of veterinary pharmacy. A lower percentage was found in Zimbabwe, where Matema et al have demonstrated that 83% of pharmacists rated their knowledge as insufficient [ 10 ].…”

“…Concerning feeling comfortable, 51.5% of Moroccan pharmacists were at ease while dispensing prescribed veterinary medicines in spite of not having courses in veterinary pharmacy as undergraduate courses (69%) or training (59.4%) comes mostly from the fact that 67.7% of pharmacists got information on veterinary medicines from different sources (leaflets, magazines or journals, and books). Only 34% of pharmacists felt able to dispense in Zimbabwe [ 10 ], and 6% felt competent to give advice on animal health issues in the United Kingdom [ 17 ]. Likewise, more than 20% of pharmacists in Nigeria were not convinced that their knowledge would be suitable to dispense veterinary medicines to animals safely.…”

“…When they were faced with dispensing veterinary medicines inquiries, 42.9% of pharmacists in Ghana preferred to refer an animal owner to a veterinary clinic, 28.6% to another pharmacist, and 21.4% to the veterinary surgeon [ 13 ]. A big number of pharmacists who referred owners to a veterinarian for additional advice were recorded in the United Kingdom (67%) [ 11 ], in Zimbabwe (69% referred patients to a veterinary surgeon or did not dispense veterinary medicines) [ 10 ], and in Tanzania (90%) [ 12 ]. Matema et al study showed that 40% of pharmacists were advised with sufficient information and suitable tools from a veterinary surgeon when they faced problems in medicine-dispensing issues in Zimbabwe [ 10 ].…”

“…At the time of the survey, parasiticides were the most sold medicines in Moroccan retail pharmacies. In Zimbabwe and in Kenya, parasiticides and antibiotics were the most sold veterinary medicines in pharmacies [9,10], while in Finland, during a survey conducted on prescriptions of antibiotics dispensed by university pharmacies, Hölsö et al reported that antibiotics were the most prescribed medicines for dogs and cats (53%) [18]. Some human use medicines can be dispensed to animals [11,13,17,19,20].…”