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Weltweit leben vier von fünf Tabakkonsument*innen in wirtschaftlich sich entwickelnden Ländern, die einer enormen Belastung durch Tuberkulose und HIV-Erkrankungen ausgesetzt sind. Tuberkulose- oder HIV-Patient*innen, die rauchen, leiden trotz Behandlung unter schlechteren Prognosen. Verhaltensinterventionen zur Tabakentwöhnung sind in der routinemäßigen Gesundheitsversorgung eine Herausforderung. Qualität der Vermittlung und Patientenbindung müssen verbessert werden. Globally, four out of five tobacco users live in economically developing countries that are facing huge tuberculosis and HIV disease burdens. Tuberculosis or HIV patients, who smoke, suffer from poorer outcomes despite treatment. Behavioural tobacco treatments that are successful in supporting patients quit, are challenging to deliver in routine healthcare. Such treatments need to be simplified by enhancing quality of delivery and patient engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is increasing recognition of the potential significant contribution that pharmacy personnel can make to improve the public's health. However, there is an evidence gap in developing countries on the public health role of pharmacy personnel.Objectives: This study aimed to explore the current public health activities that pharmacy professionals in Zimbabwe are currently involved in, and the potential of expanding this role.Methods: The study utilized individual, face-to-face, semi-structured qualitative interviews with 9 key informants. The sample reflected the diversity of pharmacy practice groups and levels as well as professional experience, and included a representative from a patient group, and a non-pharmacist national level public health expert. Data collection and analysis was an iterative process informed both by the currently available literature on the topic, as well as themes emerging from the data. Framework analysis was utilized with two independent analyses performed.Key Findings: There was a general consensus among participants that pharmacy practice in Zimbabwe was mainly focused on curative services, with very limited involvement in public health oriented activities. The following were identified as pharmacists' current public health activities: supply chain management of pharmaceutical products, provision of medications and other pharmaceutical products to patients, therapy monitoring, identification and monitoring of chronic illnesses, information provision and training of pharmacists. Nevertheless, there were concerns regarding the quality of some of these services, and lack of consistency in provision across pharmacies. Other potential areas for pharmacists' public health practice were identified as emergency response, drug abuse, addressing social determinants of health particularly promoting healthy lifestyles, applied health research, counterfeit and substandard medicines, and advocacy.Conclusions: There is perceived potential for Zimbabwean pharmacists to become more involved in public health oriented services. However, concerns regarding the quality of services and lack of consistency in provision need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Implementation of tobacco use cessation interventions however requires strategies that reach large proportions of the population. Pharmacy personnel are therefore a potential human resource for delivering tobacco use cessation interventions. Objective: This review aimed to identify, describe and synthesis currently available evidence on the effectiveness of tobacco use cessation interventions delivered by pharmacy personnel. Methods: The following electronic databases were searched for studies published until May 2012: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PSYCINFO, Cochrane Library, Web of Knowledge and the Current Controlled Trials Register. This review considered controlled clinical trials and randomized controlled trials, which were comparing any pharmacy personnel delivered tobacco use cessation intervention to no treatment, usual care or other active treatments. The outcomes of interest were: abstinence (e.g., point prevalence; continuous abstinence) and relapse (e.g., time to relapse) as measured by the respective studies. The results were not pooled due to high levels of clinical heterogeneity. Results: Ten eligible studies with a total of 20,133 participants were identified. Results suggest pharmacy personnel delivered non-pharmacological interventions offering behavioral counseling or support for tobacco use cessation could be beneficial, particularly from 6 months follow-up onwards. Combining these non-pharmacological with pharmacological interventions could also be beneficial. The results for the effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) were mixed with some findings suggesting intervention benefits, and others suggesting no clear benefit. Conclusions: Pharmacy personnel-delivered non-pharmacological tobacco use cessation interventions offering behavioral counseling or support, and those combining these non-pharmacological interventions with NRT/pharmacological approaches, are potentially effective. No clear benefit has been demonstrated on pharmacy personnel-delivered NRT interventions. However, these findings are based on a very limited number of studies and hence more evidence is needed before more robust conclusions can be made. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this review was to analyze the impact of interventions designed to standardize collection and reporting of logistics data for managing essential medicines in developing countries. Literature was identified from searches of Medline, EMBASE and Web of Science until March 2011. Other relevant publications were identified from websites of organizations working in the study area and contacts working in the field. The search identified a total of 358 articles out of which 11 were selected for inclusion. All articles were before and after analysis without control areas. Standardizing the collection and reporting of logistics data through automation (full or partial) and manual tools resulted in improvements on the availability of quality logistics data for supply chain decision-making, and continual availability of essential medicines. Use of mobile technologies resulted in low error rates in forecasting and demand planning, and significantly reduced decision lead time. The findings from this review suggest that standardization of collection and reporting of logistics data to support decision-making on essential medicine supply can lead to improvements on availability and quality of logistics data and availability of essential medicines. However there is need for more robust experimental and quasi-experimental studies on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]