Partners at University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka and Livingstone General Hospital have been working
with the Milwaukee-based Center for International Health to improve the quality of services provided by
pharmacists at the Pediatric ART Centers of Excellence at both Zambian institutions.
A key objective of this partnership has been to develop in-country training capacity that enables pharmacists to more effectively organize and manage pharmacy services — all with the goal of ensuring high quality HIV-related treatment and care to mothers, infants, and children.
Partners are also working to better integrate pharmacists into the multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS care teams at both hospitals and, to this end, have established satellite pharmacies to improve access to both medications and expert advice in selected wards.
To date, they have trained 130 Zambian pharmacists and pharmacy technicians through in-country workshops. More than 30 Zambian pharmacists participated in intensive training programs in Milwaukee focused on pharmacy management and the role of the pharmacist in multidisciplinary clinical care teams.
Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) have been established at both Zambian institutions and AIHA facilitated training for pharmacists on evidence-based medicine, online resources, searching
techniques, and the use of Lexicomp, an online database that provides clinical information — including drug usage guidelines — that help health professionals make safer, faster care decisions.
The Lusaka and Livingstone hospitals recently hosted a clinical attachment for Twinning Center partners at Addis Ababa University School of Pharmacy who, in turn, are sharing their own experience with establishing a replicable Drug Information Center (DIC) and conducting research projects.
In the coming year, partners plan to equip LRCs with satellite computers that will enable pharmacists to extract information from anywhere in the hospital and to establish a DIC at University Teaching Hospital and Livingstone General Hospital. They will also continue in-country pharmacy trainings with the Zambian partners taking the lead as facilitators and work to increase their collaboration with the Ethiopian pharmacy partnership.
Updated November 15, 2011
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