BackgroundCommunity pharmacists are very accessible to most patients yet; they have been underutilized in the aspect of providing HIV care and services. The World Health Organisation recently recommended expanding community pharmacists’ roles to address the increasing complexity of antiretroviral agents and co-infection drug regimen. This study therefore was designed to assess the readiness and willingness of community pharmacists in Nigeria to participate in the care of people living with HIV/AIDS and the possible inclusion of their pharmacy premises as sites for HIV care services.MethodsA descriptive cross sectional survey was carried out among 205 community pharmacists in south east, Nigeria between October, 2016 and February, 2017. Two hundred and five self-administered questionnaires were distributed to conveniently selected community pharmacists in the region. Data collected were analysed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics was conducted for the demographics and percentage mean scores for each domain were computed. The variables in each domain were categorised into groups and simple percentages were used to show the percentage distribution of the variables. Cross tabulation was also carried out to show the relationship between the variables and groups’ differences were explored using analysis of variance and P-values <0.05 were considered significant.ResultsAll distributed questionnaires were filled and retrieved. The overall knowledge of HIV among the surveyed pharmacists was seen to be high (70.41%). Although the percentage attitude score of the respondents towards HIV care services was on the average (57%), they were highly willing and ready to use their premise to offer HIV services with a percentage mean readiness score of 87.32%. However, their perceived skills in carrying out these services were observed to be low.ConclusionCommunity pharmacists in the south eastern part of Nigeria have high knowledge of HIV and a somewhat attitude towards HIV care services with high willingness and readiness to be involved in HIV care and services. Despite efforts to engage community pharmacists in HIV services more is needed in the aspect of making adequate policies to further empower more community pharmacists in this aspect of care.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40545-017-0122-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea. Worldwide prevalence of the virus is high and Nigeria is yet to adopt the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation for global inclusion of rotavirus vaccine into the national program on immunization due to the high cost of the vaccine. The study assessed Nigerian mothers' awareness of rotavirus infection, the importance of the rotavirus vaccine, its acceptance, and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) value for the vaccine. A quantitative study was carried out at eligible immunization units in Anambra State, using a self-administered validated questionnaire. Yamane's sample size formula was used to get the sample size and data collected from eligible mothers were collated using Microsoft Excel, 2010. Various outcomes were determined with a Chi-square test using SPSS (Ver. 20.0 for Windows, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Of the 376 mothers assessed, the maximum amount most of the women were willing to pay was less than 1000 naira per dose of the vaccine. WTP amount and knowledge of RV infection were statistically associated with the level of education and average total income per month of the mothers (p< 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in outcomes observed with the different study settings. There was poor awareness of rotavirus infection among mothers as well as poor awareness of the importance of the rotavirus vaccine, but most mothers were willing to pay a maximum of 1, 000.00 Naira [$3.0] per dose for the vaccine.
BackgroundAlthough different antiretroviral (ARV) agents’ delivery models have been explored in Nigeria, yet only about 55% and 35% of affected adults and children respectively are currently on these agents. This, therefore, underscores the need for the identification of newer effective antiretroviral therapy delivery models and best strategies to increase access to ARV therapy in Nigeria.Method and AnalysisThe study will be a cluster randomized controlled trial, which will be conducted in two HIV treatment centers in Anambra State, Nigeria. Participants will be randomized into intervention and control arm. Home delivery personnel will be trained to deliver the ARV drugs at 3months intervals to the homes of those in the intervention group while those in the control group (Facility-based services group) will receive ARVs at the HIV treatment hospital. The primary outcome for the trial will be the difference between groups in the proportion with HIV viral load suppression (≤20 copies/mL) by 12 months and then 24months. Secondary outcome include adherence to ARVs, the cost-effectiveness of home delivery service, and patient satisfaction.Ethics and disseminationNnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Health Research Ethics Committee (NAUTHHREC) approved this study (NAUTH/CS/66/VOL.13/VER III/23/2020/011) with a trial registration: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry, ID: PACTR202004535536808 on 8th April 2020. Study dissemination plans include holding advocacy meetings with stakeholders in HIV care, publishing study outcomes in an open-access peer-review journal, and presentation of the outcome at an international conference.Strength and Limitations of this studyThis is the first randomized trial assessing the effectiveness of the home delivery model of antiretroviral therapy.The primary outcome in this trial will be measured by assessing the difference between baseline HIV viral load and 12/24 months in both the intervention and control arm.In this study, patients will be assigned to treatment groups and non-treatment groups. This will help us to compare the effect of the home delivery model.In this study, only one state in Nigeria and two HIV/AIDS treatment hospitals in the state will be used to access the impact of the home delivery model. This may not allow for the generalization of the study findings.This study could serve as a pilot to a full-fledged national study to access the effectiveness of the home delivery model.
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