Addis Ababa University School of Pharmacy and Howard University’s Pharmacists and Continuing Education Center are collaborating to strengthen AAU’s capacity to train current and future pharmacists to support HIV-related care and treatment, including the provision of high quality ART.
Strengthening pharmacy services is critical to scaling up HIV treatment and support. Pharmacists are a fundamental part of the HIV/AIDS clinical team and, as Ethiopia works to rapidly scale up ARV treatment in hospitals and health centers throughout the country, the need for trained and qualified pharmacists has become increasingly important.
Partners are supporting ART expansion in Ethiopia by establishing an accredited continuing education program at AAU School of Pharmacy and Introducing a center of excellence in the clinical training of faculty, practitioners, and students providing pharmaceutical care services to HIV/AIDS patients.
They are also working to improve access to unbiased, up-to-date, clinically oriented, and evidence-based pharmaceutical health information for HIV patients, healthcare professionals, students, faculty, and the public in general, by building institutional capacity at AAU and Ethiopia’s Drug Authority and Control Administration, a federal agency that works closely with the partnership.
Partners have conducted a baseline assessment of current levels of education and training, as well as work experience and attitudes of pharmacists in Ethiopia. They have also completed two seven-day training-of-trainers workshops on select topics in drug informatics and pharmacotherapeutics for Ethiopian pharmacists.
Upcoming activities include the establishment of a replicable Drug Information Center of Excellence at AAU, as well the development of policies and procedures for an accredited continuing education program.
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