Abstract:

Background: In most communities, the first level of healthcare visit is usually the community pharmacies hence, has the chance to detect HIV for the provision of early intervention for HIV services. Consequently, if access to HIV care, treatment and prevention services is enhanced at the level of community pharmacies, the burden of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria will be reduced significantly.

Purpose: The study assessed the knowledge of community pharmacists regarding HIV/AIDS and its management and their level of standard precautions practice.

Methods: Out of 242 community pharmacists in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Federal Capital Territory, a total of 155 registered community pharmacists who had valid practicing license were randomly selected. A questionnaire specifically designed for this study was self-administered to these participants. SPSS was used for the analysis, a P-value of less than 0.05 was regarded as significant and Chi-square tests were applied for inferential analysis.

Results: Within the 155 community pharmacists sampled, complete response were obtained from 104 (67%) community pharmacists. The mean age of the participants was 44.3 years (SD ± 2.47). There were 72.1% males. 80.8% of the participants had only Bachelor of Pharmacy degree, 79.8% of participants reported correctly that HIV can be transmitted through with blood and semen and this was significantly associated with level of education (p = 0.002). Most of the participants (92.3%) did not know the HIV transmission rate from mother to child in the deficiency of antiretroviral drugs in developing countries and only 37.8% of community pharmacists keep stock of antiretroviral drugs for post exposure prophylaxis. Many of the participants (83.0%) had good knowledge of the concept of standard precaution and 76.0% knew the conditions of which standard precautions should be practiced. 57.5% of the participants wash their hands with soap and water always after any direct contact with patients, 63.2% recap used needles after giving injections or drawing blood from the patients. Only 26.9% had been vaccinated against Hepatitis B.

Conclusion: The finding of this study revealed that the knowledge and practice of community pharmacists in HIV/AIDS is relatively poor especially mother–to-child transmission. In as much as the knowledge of community pharmacists on standard precaution was good, there were paucities in their practice of standard precaution especially in the area of handling and disposal of used needles, poor availability of HIV post exposure prophylaxis drugs and vaccination against Hepatitis B. Management of HIV/AIDS should be integrated into the curriculum for continuing professional development for pharmacists. The implementation of adherence to the principles of standard precaution through consistent monitoring and supervision is highly recommended.

Keywords: Community pharmacists, knowledge and practices, HIV/AIDS & standard precautions.

References:

[1].     Adinma ED1, Ezeama C, Adinma JI, Asuzu MC. Knowledge and practice of universal precautions against blood borne pathogens amongst house officers and nurses in tertiary health institutions in Southeast Nigeria. Niger J ClinPract. 2009 Dec;12(4):398-402

[2].     Aisien AO, Shobowale MO Health care workers' knowledge on HIV and AIDS: universal precautions and attitude towards PLWHA in Benin-City, Nigeria. PMID:16477857) Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice [2005, 8(2):74-82].

[3].     Angelillo IF, Mazziota A, Nicotera G. Nurses and hospital infection control: Knowledge, attitudes and behavior of Italian operating theater staff. J Hosp Infect 1999; 42:105 -12

[4].     Chan R, Molassiootis A, Chan E, Chan V, Ho B, Lai CY, et al. Nurses' knowledge of and compliance with universal precaution in an acute care hospital. Int J Nurs Stud 2002;39: 157-63.

[5].     Delobelle P¹, Rawlinson JL, Ntuli S, Malatsi I, Decock R, Depoorter AM HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceptions of rural nurses in South Africa. J Adv Nurs. 2009 May;65(5):1061-73

[6].     Dorothy Oqua, Rosalyn King, Uford Inyang, Kufre Okop, Chamberlin Onuoha, Habeeb Abdulkareem, Kenneth Agu and Ahmad Abubakar “Community Pharmacies as Palliative Care and Referral Points to Increase Demand for HIV Services in the Communities” Howard University PACE/GHAIN Nigeria, October 2011.

[7].     Garbus L. HIV and AIDS in Malawi: Country AIDS policy analysis project. San Francisco, CA: Policy Research Center, University of California San Francisco; 2003.

[8].     Gisselquist D, Potterat JJ. Review of evidence from risk factor analyses associating HIV infection in African adults with medical injections and multiple sexual partners. Int J STD AIDS 2004; 15:222-33

[9].     Hentgen V¹, Jaureguiberry S, Ramiliarisoa A, Andrianantoandro V, Belec M. Knowledge, attitude and practices of health personnel with regard to HIV/AIDS in Tamatave (Madagascar) Bull Soc Pathol Exot. 2002 Jun;95(2):103-8.

[10]. Hirsch JD, Rosenquist A, Best BM, et al. Evaluation of the first year of a pilot program in community pharmacy: HIV/AIDS medication therapy management for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. J Manag Care Pharm. 2009;15(1):32–41. [PubMed]

[11]. Horn W A, Larson EL, McGinley KJ, Leyden JJ. Microbial Flora on the hands of health care personnel: Differences in composition and antibacterial resistance. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1988; 9:189-93.

[12]. Isara AR1, Ofili AN. Knowledge and practice of standard precautions among health care workers in the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria.Niger Postgrad Med J. 2010 Sep;17(3):204-9

[13]. Mbanya DN, Zebaze R, Kengne AP, Minkoulou EM, Awah P. Beure Knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing staff in a rural hospital of Cameroon: How much does the health care provider know about the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome? IntNurs Rev 2001; 48:241-9.

[14]. Michael Thompson, The consultant Pharmacist; 1999

[15]. Okike O, Jeremiah I, Akani C (2011). Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of General Medical Practioners in Port Harcourt towards Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. Nig. Health J. 3:79-82

[16]. Pharmaceutical Journal, ‘Dealing with accidents in the pharmacy’ 2011; 286:69-70.

[17]. Physicians for Human Rights (2006) 'Nigeria: Access to Health Care for People Living with HIV and AIDS'

[18]. Sadoh WE, Fawole AO, Sadoh AE, Oladimeji AO, Sotiloye OS. Practice of universal precautions among healthcare workers. J Natl Med Assoc 2006; 98:722-6.

[19]. Shiao J, Guo L, McLaws ML. Estimation of the risk of blood borne pathogens to health care workers after a needlestick injury in Taiwan. Am J Infect Control 2002; 30:15-20

[20]. Talashek ML, Kaponda CP, Jere DL, Kafulafula U, Mbeba MM, McCreary LL, et al. Identifying what rural health workers in Malawi need to become HIV prevention leaders. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care 2007;18:41-50.

[21]. UNAIDS 2017, available at http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/nigeria. Accessed 23^rd December 2018

[22]. Van Niekerk A. and Loretta M. Kopelman. Ethics & AIDS in Africa: The Challenge to Our Thinking. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast, 2005.

[23]. Worker Health Chart book 2004. Blood borne Infections and Percutaneous Exposures DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No; 2004. p. 146.

[24]. Suchitra J B, Lakshmi Devi N. Impact of education on knowledge, attitudes and practices among various categories of health care workers on nosocomial infections. Indian J Med Microbiol [serial online] 2007 [cited 2014 Apr 3]; 25:181-7. Available from: http://www.ijmm.org/text.asp?2007/25/3/181/34757