Role of community pharmacy professionals in child health service provision in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional survey in six cities of Amhara regional state

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacy professionals have great potential to deliver various public health services aimed at improving service access, particularly in countries with a shortage of health professionals. However, little is known about their involvement in child health service provision in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of involvement of community pharmacy professionals in child health service provision within Ethiopia. METHODS: A multi-center cross-sectional survey was conducted among 238 community pharmacy professionals from March to July 2020 in Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. Independent samples t-test and one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the mean difference. RESULTS: Most community pharmacy professionals were ‘involved’ in providing child health services related to ‘advice about vitamins/supplements’ (46.6%), ‘advice about infant milk/formulas’ (47.1%) and ‘responding to minor symptoms’ (50.8%) for children. The survey revealed that, community pharmacy professionals were less frequently involved in providing childhood ‘vaccination’ services. Further, level of involvement of community pharmacy professionals differed according to participants’ licensure level, setting type, responsibility in the facility and previous training experience in child health services. CONCLUSION: Community pharmacy professionals have been delivering various levels of child health services, demonstrating ability and capacity in improving access to child health services in Ethiopia. However, there is a need for training and government support to optimize pharmacist engagement and contribution to service delivery.