Conectar
by Mahbubur Rahman, Mahbub-Ul Alam, Sharmin Khan Luies, Sharika Ferdous, Zahidul Mamun, Musarrat Jabeen Rahman, Debashish Biswas, Tazrina Ananya, Asadullah, Abul Kamal, Ritthick Chowdhury, Eheteshamul Russel Khan, Dara Johnston, Martin Worth, Umme Farwa Daisy, Tanvir Ahmed
BackgroundThe influx of Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs) has left the Southwest coastal district of Cox’s Bazar with one of the greatest contemporary humanitarian crises, stressing the existing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) resources and services. This study aimed to assess the existing capacity of local institutions involved in delivering WASH services and identify relevant recommendations for intervention strategies.
MethodsWe used a qualitative approach, including interviews and capacity assessment workshops with institutions engaged in WASH service delivery. We conducted five key informant interviews (KII) with sub-district level officials of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) to have a general idea of WASH service mechanisms. Seven capacity assessment workshops were organized with the relevant district and sub-district level stakeholders from August 2019 to September 2019. These workshops followed three key areas: i) knowledge of policy, organizational strategy, guidelines, and framework; ii) institutional arrangements for service delivery such as planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and reporting; and iii) availability and management of human, financial and infrastructural resources. Data were categorized using thematic content analysis.
ResultsThe majority of stakeholders lacked awareness of national WASH policies. Furthermore, the top-down planning approaches resulted in activities that were not context-specific, and lack of coordination between multiple institutions compromised the optimal WASH service delivery at the local level. Shortage of human resources in delivering sustainable WASH services, inadequate supervision, and inadequate evaluation of activities also required further improvement, as identified by WASH stakeholders.
ConclusionResearch evidence suggests that decision-makers, donors, and development partners should consider learning from the WASH implementers and stakeholders about their existing capacity, gaps, and opportunities before planning for any WASH intervention in any particular area.
Countries are grappling with a rapidly worsening upsurge in the opioid-related overdose deaths, misuse and abuse. There is a dearth of data in Pakistan regarding the practices and competencies of pharmacists in handling opioid-related issues.
A cross-sectional study, conducted across Punjab, Pakistan.
The study deployed a validated survey to evaluate the competencies and practices of the community and hospital pharmacists.
504 community pharmacists and 279 hospital pharmacists participated in the survey with an overall response rate of 85.5%. Almost half of the respondents ‘never’ or ‘sometimes’ made clinical notes in a journal or dispensing software to monitor ongoing opioid use. Generally, pharmacists were reluctant to collaborate with physicians or notify police regarding the abuse/misuse of opioids. Hospital pharmacists achieved significantly higher mean competency scores than chain and independent community pharmacists (p
Both community and hospital pharmacists hold significant positions and potential to contribute meaningfully to the mitigation of harms and risks associated with opioids. Nevertheless, this study underscores notable deficiencies in the competence of pharmacists, whether in hospital or community settings in Punjab, concerning various aspects related to the dispensing and utilisation of opioids. It also highlights the pressing need for the development of strategies aimed at improving several practice areas including the documentation, the quality of patient counselling, the effectiveness of reporting mechanisms for opioid abuse and the stringent enforcement of regulatory policies to curtail opioid misuse. Thus, to mitigate the opioid epidemic in Pakistan, it is imperative to institute opioid stewardship initiatives aimed at rectifying the competency and procedural deficiencies within the pharmacist workforce.
FreshRSS 