Introduction Drug information center (DIC), in most cases, is part and parcel of pharmacy service established as a unit that deals with offering recent, balanced, truthful facts about drugs to the public, patients, and health care professionals. Objective To assess the query receiving and response trends by the drug information centers (DICs) found in main university affiliated teaching health care institutes in Ethiopia. Settings The drug information centers located in Mekelle, Gondar, Jimma, Tikur Anbessa Specialized University Hospitals, and St. Peter Public Hospital, Ethiopia. Methods It employed analytical, descriptive (cross-sectional), and retrospective methods. The study was performed from June to August, 2015. All the available documented data were gathered with the help of checklist and questionnaire (self-administered). Results A total of 439 queries submitted to the DICs during their active service period were included in this study of which 407 were found to be suitable for this assessment. The highest inquiries had come from public hospitals (60 %) from health care workers (95.1 %), out of which pharmacists were the highest (63.57 %) submitters, followed by health care students (12.7 %). The major purposes of query submission were to improve treatment outcome of patients (33.9 %) and then to update the knowledge (25.1 %) although 39.3 % of the queries did not document it. The most common requests concern drug interaction (19.7 %) followed by therapeutic use (17.8 %) and the major pharmacological group is about antimicrobials (23.3 %) followed by antihypertensives (11.4 %). Web sites (31.4 %) were the most highly used references followed by Micromedex (19.0 %). Conclusion The assessment of the DICs had shown that it is feasible to establish and develop DIC services in a developing country setting, Ethiopia. The study found that most of the common queries deal with drug interaction, therapeutic use, and general product information (most commonly about antimicrobials).

Background Guidelines recommend the initiation of insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who failed on maximum dose of oral medications. However, time to initiation is inconsistent due to different barriers resulting in delay and thus leads to failure to achieve glycemic control which in turn may lead to different complications. The aim of this study was to explore factors influencing the delayed initiation of insulin among patients with type 2 diabetes being managed at the Diabetes Clinic of Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Methods A qualitative descriptive study design was employed. Data was collected using in-depth interviews with 27 participants, including patients and healthcare providers. Audio-recorded data was transcribed and then thematically analyzed. Results Different factors influencing the delayed initiation of insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were revealed. Patient factors included beliefs about the necessity of insulin and concerns related to starting insulin. Physician factors included perceived patient’s situation and lack of clinical competency. Health institution factors included inadequate laboratory set up and absence of contextual guidelines for diabetes management including insulin initiation. Conclusions The study findings indicated different influencing factors some of which were similar to those reported from other settings while there were others which somehow were unique to study setting. These are indicative of the need to implement interventions such as strengthening the patients’ diabetes health education program that is considerate of the religious, cultural, and social aspects of the society.

Water is widely used as a raw material, ingredient, and solvent in the processing, formulation, and manufacture of pharmaceutical products, and assessing its quality is of paramount importance. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there hasn't been any baseline assessment made with regard to the implementation status of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) principles in water treatment systems of pharmaceutical industries in Ethiopia. Hence, to assess the level of compliance to GMP in water treatment systems of pharmaceutical industries in Ethiopia, a national survey was conducted in all pharmaceutical industries of the country. Data were collected by employing quantitative and qualitative methods. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to nine pharmaceutical industries and the response rate was 8 (88.5%). According to the results, none of the industries had an influent and effluent total organic carbon monitoring system. Among the available storage tanks for purified water and water for injection, 7 (87.5%) of them were of a sanitary material. However, in 4 (50%) industries pipes were not made of sanitary material, purified water was not kept circulating at 70-80 o C and there were dead legs in the water lines. The validation results were investigated and corrective action was taken only in 1 (12.5%) of the industries. The compliance of the water treatment systems of most of the industries to WHO GMP principles was found to be below the standard in many aspects. Therefore, it is recommended that the industries should exert maximum efforts to comply with GMP principles.