local pharmacists training developmental history

1 Localized Pharmacists Training in Zambia

UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Brief biography of Pharmacy Training in Zambia

(2015)

Compiled By Lungwani T. M. Muungo, PhD


Content Page

Historical background……………………………………………………..3

School of Medicine………………………………………………………16

Department of Pharmacy…………………………………………………19

Programme of study for the degree of bachelor of pharmacy…………….24

Strategic Analysis…………………………………………………………31

References…………………………………………………………………36


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. UNZA was

established in 1965 and officially opened its doors to the public on July 12, 1966. It is the oldest

public university in Zambia. The language of instruction is English.

As stated above, the University of Zambia has been in existence as early as 1965. It is one of the

immediate post colonial rule development into the independence era of the country as an early

effort to domesticate key areas of social amenities. Prior to independence, most of the human

resource requirements for the country’s social and economical spheres was supplied through

colonial systems such Great Britain for Zambia.

To localize such key human resource requirements was the immediate need to the establishment of

the national tertiary education institution in the name of the University of Zambia.

The University of Zambia has over 157 degree and postgraduate degree programmes. The

University of Zambia is divided into the following faculties with respective number of departments:

School of Agricultural Sciences

School of Engineering

School of Education

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Law

School of Mines

School of Medicine

School of Natural Sciences

School of Veterinary Medicine

Graduate School of Business

Notable alumni

Levy Mwanawasa, the late Zambian President studied Law at UNZA

Edgar Lungu, the current Zambian President studied Law at UNZA

Inonge Wina, the current Vice President of Zambia obtained a BA degree at UNZA

Ireen Mambilima, the current Chief Justice of Zambia.

Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the opposition political party UPND studied Economics at

UNZA.

Monica Nashandi, Namibian ambassador and 1983 graduate

Edward Makuka Nkoloso, founder of the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space

Research and Philosophy

Emmerson Mnangagwa,Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula, Deputy Governor for Administration, Bank of Zambia 2007 to

present.


Campuses for the University of Zambia

Its main campus—the Great East Road Campus—is on the Great East Road, about 7 km

from Lusaka City. It also has the Ridgeway Campus within Lusaka City located at the University

Teaching Hospital (famously called UTH); this campus specifically houses students pursuing

medical and other health program courses such as pharmaceutical, biomedical etc.


GREAT EAST ROAD CAMPUS

Slide showing the front and main entrance road leading into the Main Campus of the University

of Zambia (Great East Road Campus). This houses the administrative structures of the university

in addition to other training disciplines such as engineering, vet. Agric. Computer science,

education, law etc.

The Main University Campus is situated on the south side of the Great East Road about nine (9)

kilometres from the city centre in Lusaka. With an area of about 290 hectares, the campus is on a

fairly level site and much of the property has been brought into use for academic and residential

purposes. The following schools are located at this main campus; School of Education, School of

Law, School of Natural Sciences, School of Humanities and Social sciences, School of Engineering,

School of Mines, School of Agricultural Sciences and Samora Machel School of Veterinary

Medicine


THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

The University of Zambia is a leader in provision of higher education in the region, celebrated for

providing comprehensive and rigorous teaching-learning, research and scholarly programmes that

are responsive to needs of the individual, industry and society

THE MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

The University of Zambia is a centre of excellence in higher education for individuals, industry and

society through the provision of quality education, research and scholarly programmes for strategic

human resource development, in order to promote national and regional development, through

relevant and appropriate partnerships.

ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE Location: Central Administration Block

Great East Road Campus, Lusaka

Postal Address: P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka

Telephones:

Vice-Chancellor +260-21-1-250871

Deputy Vice-Chancellor +260-21-1-254408

Registrar +260-21-1-251593

Bursar +260-21-1-254863

Academic Office +260-21-1-295220

Telegrams and Cables: UNZA Lusaka

Telex: UNZALU ZA 44370

Fax: +260-21-1-253952

E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


THE RIDGEWAY CAMPUS

Slide showing the front of the School of Medicine (Ridgeway Campus)

The Ridgeway Campus is situated near the University Teaching Hospital on John Mbita Road, and

is about nine hectares in extent. The Campus is about four kilometers from city centre in Lusaka

and about seven kilometers from the Great east road campus. The school of Medicine and its

relevant departments is located here.

It is stated that some thought had been given in the early 1950s to the establishment of a University

college in Lusaka mainly to serve the interest of the colonial presence in the country at the time, but

such proposals as there may have been were abandoned in 1953 with the creation of the Federation

of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and the related political decision to establish a University college in

Salisbury (now Harare). In other ways, the establishment of the same college as was envisaged in

early 1950s was more preferred to Southern Rhodesia in Salisbury than in Northern Rhodesia, In

Lusaka. Almost ten years were to pass before the question of a University for the then Northern

Rhodesia was formally re-opened. This was done by the government (immediate post-colonial

government) which came into power in December 1962, and which for the first time consisted of a

majority from the two nationalist parties, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) and the

African National Congress (ANC). In March 1963, this Government appointed a Commission

under the Chairmanship of Sir John Lockwood, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of

London, to advise on the development of a University. In its report, which was submitted in

November 1963, the Lockwood Commission unanimously recommended the establishment of a

University in Lusaka.


In January 1964, the Government signified that it accepted the recommendations of the Lockwood

Commission and within four months there was an inaugural meeting of the Provisional Council of

the University, the body charged with bringing the University into being.

In July 1964, the former Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, a research institute with an international

reputation for scholarly research and publications in the field of social anthropology dating back to

1938, came under the jurisdiction of the Provisional Council. In July 1965, Dr D.G. Anglin, of

Carleton University in Canada, was appointed as Vice-Chancellor. A month later, the Oppenheimer

College of Social Service was incorporated into the University at a time when extensive additions to

its premises in John Mbita Road, in the Ridgeway area of Lusaka, were already well under way.

In October 1965, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia gave his assent to Act

Number 66 of 1965, and its commencement on 12 November 1965 of the same year brought the

University of Zambia into legal existence.

Under a reconstituted Provisional Council, recruitment of staff had been proceeding a pace against

the deadline set for the first intake of students, namely 17 March 1966. On that day the first

academic session commenced at the Ridgeway Campus.

The President, Dr Kaunda was installed as Chancellor on 12 July 1966, in the presence of

representatives of more than fifty other universities and some two thousand guests. The following

day, The Chancellor laid the foundation stone for the University of Zambia on the Great East Road

Campus.

The University began with three Schools: Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Natural

Sciences - but as facilities developed and needs were recognised new Schools were added: Law

(1967), Engineering (1969), Medicine (1970), Agricultural Sciences (1971), Mines (1973),

Business and Industrial Studies (1978, at Ndola Campus), Environmental Studies (1981, at Ndola

Campus), and Veterinary Medicine (1983).

In its first academic year the University enrolled 312 students. The numbers rose to over 1 000 in

1970 and ten years later stood at over 4 000. It was envisaged that eventually the total enrolment

would level off at about 8 000 students. Current enrollment stands at 11500. Since such a number

could not be accommodated, academically or residentially at the main campus in Lusaka, it was

decided in 1975 that the University would be developed on a federal basis and that it would

comprise three constituent institutions, one at Lusaka, one at Ndola the third at Solwezi in the

North-Western Province. A new University of Zambia Act that came into operation in 1979

provided a definitive constitution for this federal structure. In anticipation of this development, and

in response to the need to provide University training in the fields of accountancy and business

administration, the University at Ndola opened in July 1978 with the establishment of a School of

Business and Industrial Studies. The new Constituent Institution of the University of Zambia was

accommodated at the Riverside Campus of the Zambia Institute of Technology in Kitwe, where

teaching and residential facilities were readily available. But it was intended that the stay in Kitwe

would be only temporary while physical planning, the mobilisation of resources and initial

construction process got under way at the permanent site that had been acquired in Ndola.


However, in 1987 the Act that ushered in a federal structure for the University was reviewed and

consequently it was decided to abolish the federal structure. Two Acts were passed establishing two

autonomous universities, namely the University of Zambia and the Copperbelt University.

Following the advent of the Third Republic in November 1991, Parliament passed the University

Act No. 26 of 1992 which introduced important changes in the governance of the University. The

1992 Act provided for a titular chancellor appointed by the President from amongst distinguished

persons nominated by the Minister of Education. Previously the President had been the Chancellor

of the two universities.

Mr. John M. Mwanakatwe SC, a distinguished educationist, lawyer and former politician, was

installed on 27th November 1992 as the first Chancellor of the University of Zambia under the act.

With the building of the School of Veterinary Medicine (1983) with the assistance of the Japanese

Government, some student hostels were built within the agreement.

In 1999, Parliament passed a new University ACT No. 11 of 1999, which provided for some major

changes in the governance of the University of Zambia. It was, for instance, vested the powers to

appoint the University Council in the Minister of Education. It also reduced the tenure of office to

the University Chancellor from Five to three years among other things.

THE VISION OF THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT UNZA

The School of Medicine is a leader in provision of health education in general and medical in

particular in the country, celebrated for providing comprehensive and excellence in health education

that is responsive to the needs of the individual, industry and society for the country and beyond

THE MISSION OF SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT UNZA

The School of Medicine is a centre of excellence in medical education for individuals, industry and

society through the provision of quality education, research and scholarly programmes for strategic

human resource development, in order to promote national and regional development, through

relevant and appropriate partnerships.

ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE

Postal Address: Conference and Extension Studies

P.O. Box 50516, Lusaka

University Architect

P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka

Telephones: Units, School of Medicine,

Dean and All Departments: +260-21-1-252641


EVELYN HONE COLLEGE OFAPPLIED ARTS

For 50 years, Evelyn Hone College (EHC) has been contributing greatly to the economic development of

Southern Africa quality training through provision of various training pathways to local and international

students.

The college has a unique record of having generated a crop of health trained personnel that has addressed the

needs of people in the country. It is the largest college unit after the renowned tertiary institutions such as

UNZA, CBU etc.

The college to date has generated thousands of graduates in various disciplines and pharmacy included.

EHC was established with a multi-purpose mandate including training pharmacy technologists for the health

sector in the country. A good number of the pharmaceutical personnel in the country have gone through this

training and others upgrading their EHC qualifications mainly from UNZA degree program have been and

are on the ground

Evelyn Hone College Main Campus Sites

Evelyn Hone College Pharmacy Students


University Teaching Hospital (UTH)

Multi-sectorial slide that shows different sites and activities at UTH

Introduction

The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka is the biggest referral hospital in Zambia. It is

located in the capital city Lusaka approximately 4Km east of the city centre. It was developed from

what was then referred to as Lusaka district hospital in 1966

Lusaka, the capital of Zambia had a population of approximately 1,084,703 by 2000 census

probably rising to over 2 million now.

Being centrally located, it is the hub of most of the political and socio-economic activities of the

country and it also serves as the focal transport route both for national and international travel.

About the Hospital

UTH is the principle health training institution in the country for health trainees such as Medical,

Pharmacy, Nursing, biomedical Students etc, corresponding Interns, and Postgraduate students in

various health disciplines. It also provides training for Nurses through the Nursing school located

within the hospital grounds as well as Clinical Officers through their college located at Chainama

Hills College Hospital. Recently, the hospital has accommodated students from affiliated colleges

for practical emancipation such as for the nurses, pharmacy technologists, physiotherapists with

diploma certificates, biomedical assistants etc.

UTH has approximately well over 1655 beds and 250 Baby cots. It provides a full range of primary,

secondary, and tertiary health and medical services on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.

In addition it serves as the country's specialist centre receiving referrals from all over the country.

Under adhoc arrangements, UTH also assess clinical cases that merit specialist treatment outside the

country such as South Africa, India, United Kingdom etc


Slide showing D-block wing for newly born babies with unusual pathological conditions at UTH


Slide showing main block of Maternity wing at UTH

The clinical departments at UTH include:

Department of Anaesthesia

Department of Internal Medicine

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Department of Paediatric

Department of Surgery

Department of Community Medicine

Department of Pathology

Radiology Department

Physiotherapy Department

Pharmacy Department

Blood Bank


Slide showing the reception of Emergency / Casualty at UTH

Slide showing surgical operation on a patient in one of the operating theatre rooms at UTH


Other Services in the Hospital include:

School of Medicine Offices

Medical Library

Medical Illustrations

School of Nursing – Ministry of Health

Contact Details

University Teaching Hospital

P.O Box 50001

Lusaka

Zambia

Emergency Tel: +260-211-254113

Other Numbers (+260 211) 251430 / 251455 / 251200 / 251477 / 253955

Elective at University Teaching Hospital

If you are interested in doing an elective at UTH, you will have to get in touch with the school of

medicine through the following contact details:

Tel: +260-211-252641 ,

Fax: +260-211-250753,

P.O Box 50110, Lusaka, Zambia

Email: Assistant Dean (general): [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


The School of Medicine

Among many other social disciplines that were started at the university was the School of Medicine

mainly to train medical doctors that were critically required for our public health service facilit ies.

Slide showing the front of the School of Medicine (Ridgeway Campus) This houses the administrative structures of pre-clinical programs for the school while the

clinical programs are on the University Teaching Hospital grounds.


Slide showing main academic block of the School of Medicine (Ridgeway Campus)

The School of Medicine was established as an independent School of the University of Zambia in

1970 as already alluded to. Pre-clinical teaching in Bachelor of science (Human Biology) and

Clinical teaching in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, however, had started earlier in

1968. The first output of graduates with full medical qualifications was in 1973.

Since then, the School has presented over 1200 medical doctors for the award of its joint degrees of

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.

In 1981 it commenced postgraduate programmes leading to higher degrees in a number of clinical

areas. The Master of Medicine programme (MMed) is now offered in Surgery, Obstetrics and

Gynecology, Paediatrics and Child Health, Medicine, and Orthopaedic Surgery. A number of

similar programmes have been actively developed in other various field of medical training such as

Anaesthesia; Psychiatry; Pathology etc. A Master of Public Health programme with two tracts, one

for clinicians and the other for non-clinicians, has been also introduced at the school since the

1994/95 academic year.

In 2004 the school commenced postgraduate programmes in Master of Science in Nursing, Master

of Science in Parasitology and Post Graduate Diploma in Health Education for Health professionals.

Master of Urology, Neuroscience, pathology, etch have been developed also due to ratification for

commencement. Also the school offers PhD training programmes subject to the availability of a

suitable supervisors in different health training disciplines and appropriate research subject being


agreed upon in the department hosting the degree. In general PhDs are offered in all the

departments running masters degree programs.

The School also housed responsible for the higher level training and education in the following

degree Programmes:

a) Bachelor of Pharmacy

b) Bachelor of Science in Human Biology c) Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy d) Bachelor of Science in Nursing Sciences

e) Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences

f) Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science


THE DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY

Prior to the localized pharmacy degree training, all the pharmacists were trained from overseas

training institutions of different countries. Those that returned back to Zambia after training were

supported in their respective health service provisions by locally trained pharmacy technologists

dating back as early as 1970. The local degree training in pharmacy started in 2001. However, to

prepare the ground for initiation of this training started as early as 1999, by engaging an expert-led

team to design curriculum that was to be ratified through the official University of Zambia senate.

Obviously the effort of localizing medical training addressed the immediate needs of the country.

The other types of health professionals including pharmaceutical personnel at the time continued to

be sourced and trained from abroad, which in the long run proved to be very unreliable and

expensive venture. It proved unreliable mainly on its expected and effective output. For most, there

was a very limited or insignificant number of the trained people made available for national health

service per given time scale. Due to limited resources, very few were engaged to take up pharmacy

training from abroad. Secondly, out of that limited number, three quarters did not come back to

fulfill their sponsorship responsibilities either due to failing to complete the prescribed training

programs or follow their personal decision to remain to practice in their respective countries of

training. Many nationals at the time decided to follow the later pathway for fear of poor conditions

of service if they were to come back home.

Due to insignificant number of trained pharmaceutical personnel for the country, there was a

negative effect on the overall performance of the comprehensive National Health Service delivery

system for Zambia as a result of poor pharmaceutical care service delivery to the people. Some of

the service lines including pharmaceutical service became almost instinct or non - existing.

Accordingly, the first efforts at Drug Policy Development in Zambia, started just before the main

thrust of the Health Reforms - based mainly on global guidelines. However effective follow-up

action at the senior management level and political commitment had, till mid 1995, been lacking.

Consequently the main thrust of the Health Reforms emphasized other (equally pressing issues) and

seemingly underplayed drug issues.

Therefore, by the early 1995 it was becoming evident that the credibility and effectiveness of the

Health Reforms was at stake if drug issues were not addressed appropriately.

In 1997, the Zambian government realized the need to initiate and support a national program that

was to deliberately formulate policy guidelines in the development of improved health service lines

for the country. Accordingly, the political commitment to the development of a National Drug

Policy (NDP) was embodied in the signing of an agreement between MOH (Zambia) and

International Health Care & Research (IHCAR) (at Karolinska Institute) on Institutional

Collaboration for the Development of the Zambia National Drug Policy; with the financial support

from Sida. The human resource mobilization was thus made through that Institutional

Collaboration.

In 1998, through the ministry of health, the official government document was produced referred to

as “Zambian National Drug Policy, 1999”. The document set policy guidelines on a number of

health service elements and among many of these was human resource development.


This element of human resource development was set to affirm the government commitment

towards supporting the development of appropriately trained pharmaceutical personnel in adequate

number for the country’s pharmaceutical service delivery lines. It is from this angle that the

University of Zambia, through its School of Medicine, which is housed by the University Teaching

Hospital, offered to initiate the localized degree training certification of pharmacists in the country.

Slide showing the front of the University Teaching Hospital (2001)

Slide showing the front side of clinic 2 at the University Teaching Hospital and houses the

Department of Pharmacy for the School of Medicine (2001)


The slide that shows the inside of the administrative part the pharmacy department (2003)

The School of Medicine for the University of Zambia as already stated above, has operated from its

inception as a separate institutional campus that was mandated to train if not all the health workers

for the country. In the beginning, it was not possible to localize the training of all health

professional practitioners due to financial constraints. However, among others that are now trained

locally are medical doctors, pharmacists, graduate nurses, graduate physiotherapists, biomedical

scientists and environmental health scientists. While medical doctors and graduate nurses have been

trained relatively longer than the other professionals at this school, the rest have been initiated

recently including pharmacy. It is worth noting that while the doctors have been trained to actively

participate in the health service delivery to the Zambia people, nurses initially undertook graduate

studies for the purposes of providing tutorial services for the nursing colleges that are dotted around

the country. It is also very recent that graduate nurses are being considered for health service

delivery strategies in the country

However, the reasoning to localize the training of pharmacists was primarily based on the critical

understaffing of appropriate pharmaceutical personnel both in the private and public health sector.

As earlier stated, there was a political will behind the initiation of local graduate pharmacy

education through such government initiatives as the National Drug Policy of 1998 that stated ‘as a

matter of urgency the government shall actively support the development of a pharmacy

programme at university level in order to increase the output of suitably trained pharmacists’. This with the training policy by the University of Zambia for development of other health

professionals in addition to the already existing medical degree education, it was found very

necessary and national desire to urgently develop and initiate degree program training pharmacy at

the university of Zambia.

At the time, in line with the university regulations, pharmacy degree training was to be initiated in

the interim under the appropriate established training unit of the university and the School of

Medicine and specifically under the Physiological Sciences was found to be the most suitable

ground for its initiation. The program was started in 2001, after the appropriate curriculum was

formulated in 1999 that was presented for ratification through the University of Zambia Senate

system in 2000.


Still as a unit, the pharmacy program was designed to run on a 5 years training pathway starting

from the Main Campus, from the School of Natural Sciences. The program was also designed to get

students’ recruitment from Evelyn Hone College, from the diploma certificate pathways into the 3rd

year of the degree program at school of medicine. Furthermore, as part of program initiation

reasoning, it was designed to run under the founding head for an interim period after which certain

improvements should have been undertaken such as phase II activities (maturing the department

into a school).

Furthermore, it was expected to add value to the general management of HIV / AIDS by generating

appropriately trained personnel that were to be effective in a health team for national remedial

initiatives such as provision of ARVs, Rational Drug Use, Medication and treatment counseling,

proper storage of drugs both at ARV centers and pharmacies in general.

To impart the clinical knowledge to students of pharmacy, while maintaining the details of science

in pharmacy at the level of pre-clinical studies in pharmacy, there was a deliberate emphasis placed

at the clinical application of this knowledge so as to crystallize out the clinical aspect of pharmacy

(pharmaceutical care). The scientific base of pharmacy training by arrangements has been re-

enforced through the teaching of basic science courses in the first two of total four years at

Ridgeway campus, meant to provide or impart competencies in graduates in terms of chemical

identifications, chemical substance utilization and compounding. Later, the trainee students

concluded the training by going through the last two years, referred to as clinical years, meant to

provided or impact competencies in graduates in terms of clinical utilization of identified drug

entities..

In its first academic year pharmacy training programme at the School of Pharmacy enrolled 27

direct entry students with diploma in pharmacy as an entry qualification into the third year while 26

were recruited through the main pathway from the School of Natural Sciences. In subsequent years,

these numbers have increased to 40 from the School of Natural Sciences due to popular demand for

students School of Natural Sciences to take up pharmacy training at the School of Medicine. Due to

limited capacity of 50 students in each stream year of pharmacy training, the balance of 10 students

for direct entry resulted into inadequacy for direct-entry student applicants. In 2010, departmental

based program was initiated that created parallel training program mainly for the direct entry

students, raising the direct entry slots from 10 to 50 per year. As a result of this development within

the department, the average number of pharmacy students per stream starting from 3rd

year

averaged 90 by the year 2013. The total average number of students studying pharmacy each year at

the School of Medicine is estimated over 300 while an average of 90 students per year have been

graduating as trained pharmacists since 2014.

Since 2004, when there was the first graduating group of students (10 students) from the new

localized pharmacy degree program, there was a steady yearly increase (an average of 35 students

per year) graduating with BPharm degree certificates in five years that followed up to 2009 as

presented in table 1. It can also be confirmed that most if not all of the graduates from this program

have been employed by the Ministry of Health at least the first year of their employment as a matter

of both professional public service requirement.


However, the initial stages of local training in pharmacy at UNZA would not have been exempted

from operational challenges and difficulties. These challenges presented themselves in form of

inadequate physical and purpose-built infrastructures, limited operational facilities and

inappropriate number of human resource.

These indeed, provided practical challenges in the first five years of the local pharmacists training at

the institution. To alleviate some of the challenges, the program went into academic collaboration

with locally available staff on part-time engagement, Egyptian health training institutions that made

some of their respective academic staff be attached to the department during the sponsored

sabbatical leave scheme by the Egyptian government (2002 – 2010). On infrastructure

requirements, UNZA central administration, through the school of medicine leadership, identified

and allocated some of the prefabricated structures that existed at the Ridgeway campus grounds

while the first departmental office for the pharmacy training program was located at UTH premises

(Clinic 2 block). There was also sponsored academic collaboration with some of the United

Kingdom-based universities so as to nature the new training program with the appropriate training

framework (sponsored by DFID through the British Embassy for Zambia)

The other aspect was of the difficulties faced during the first phase in terms of disharmony at the

school of medicine. A good number of the existing academic staff members were not of the idea to

be in co-existence with other health training programs and pharmacy included at the school of

medicine. To this effect, vital academic resource was not available for pharmacy training and that

presented some technical difficulties in some aspects of formal pharmacy training courses. Some

aspects of these difficulties were solved by earlier stated solutions, that is, engagement of assessed

part-time lecturers, on sabbatical leave academic foreign staff, received some of the students’

learning materials through collaborated academic arrangements. The other difficulty was the limited

capacity to recruit students into the program. This was resolved through the running of parallel

program so as to create an entry point for those that were recruited into the program from the

service line (direct entry). With the introduction of the parallel program for pharmacy, appropriate

existing or employed academic staff at UNZA and School of Medicine included, became accessible

for pharmacy students’ learning.


Programme of Study for Bachelor of Pharmacy degree

Duration of Programme

The programme has been planned to take to take:

I. Four years at the school of Medicine for those students from the main stream Campus

(School of Natural Sciences).

II. Three years at the School of Medicine for those students coming from the health service

facilities with diploma certificates in Pharmacy technology

III. Four years at the School of Medicine for those students with relevant qualifying documents(

degree certificates from health-related fields,

'A' Level certificates).

IV. The programme will be full-time for all the enrolled and registered students

Programme Structure

The overall aim of the programme is to provide a sound education and training: both theoretical and

practical in the pharmaceutical sciences (chemistry, anatomy and physiology, pharmaceutics,

biochemistry, pharmacy practice so that the graduates should not only have up-to-date knowledge

of the subjects, but have adequate background and acquire skills that will enable them serve the

patients effectively and sustain the development of pharmacy in Zambia. The programme has been

designed to reflect the patient-oriented nature of the profession with in-depth of science

background.

Career Opportunities

The profession of pharmacy encompasses a wide range of opportunities. Therefore, the design of

the training curriculum for UNZA is based on those opportunities within the profession. There are

a wide variety of subjects that are taught and offer graduating students a wide range of career

options to choose from, such as in hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, industrial pharmacy,

pharmacy management, food industries, pharmaceutical research and administration, pharmacy

business, forensic pharmacy, pharmaceutical regulatory authorities and many more. In addition

capable and willing graduates will proceed to higher degrees in pharmacy to become academicians

or specialists. Pharmacy is a noble profession and in various settings offer rewarding and

challenging career prospects.

Currently, graduate study program has been undertaken to provide postgraduate qualifications for

pharmacists to the level of doctors of pharmacy. This is because the program has been designed to

produce clinical pharmacists at the end of training.


Slide showing a group of pharmacy students at one of the pharmaceutical technology

demonstrating sites (2007)

Slide showing a student of pharmacy operating or monitoring the tablet press cycles at one of the

pharmaceutical technology demonstrating sites (2008)


Slides showing a group of pharmacy students in an examination hall (2005)


Growth in size and stature

During the last six (6) years from 2010, the department of pharmacy existence has tended to grow

positively in size and stature while negatively in quality of product output. Currently, the

department houses well over 300 students on average for all the four streams of pharmacy program

years and graduating an average of 70 trained pharmacists per year. This huge number is also

compounded by private institutions that have also started to graduate pharmacists onto the Zambian

health services. The department from its inception to date was meant to graduate on average 50

students per year and has graduated more than 500 pharmacist practitioners to date. This number

may be doubled for the next 5 years if the rate of pharmacists’ graduation does not reduce. While

the quantitative term of pharmacists training has been addressed, the aspect of quality has not been

assured. The learning materials and the process is still on trial basis without consolidating a national

training model that should be factored into global standard framework. However, to address some

aspect of this concern, the department developed a postgraduate program in the clinical pharmacy

that was approved by the graduate studies committee in 2010. To date, the graduate program has

formally trained and graduated a total number of seventeen (17) clinical pharmacists. The core

objective of this program is to accord each practicing pharmacist formal knowledge of clinical

pharmacy for the purpose of providing appropriate pharmaceutical care to the patients. While this

approach to pharmacy training is in line with global health training, it is not well articulated on the

national health market.

SUMMARY OF PHARMACY PROGRAMME TRAINING OUTPUT SINCE 2001 TO 2016

YEAR GRADUATES

WITH BPHARM

COMMENNTS

2001 No graduates 1st year of starting the two streams – 2

nd and 3

rd Year streams

2002 No graduates 2nd

year running of earlier two streams – 2nd

and 3rd

Year streams recruitment

2003 No graduates 3rd

year running of earlier two streams – 2nd

and 3rd

Year streams recruitment

2004 10 graduates 4th year running of earlier 2

nd year stream – 2

nd and 3

rd Year streams recruitment

2005 35 graduates 5th year running of the program as a full circle – 2

nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3

rd as parallel stream recruitment


nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



nd and 3



MoH collaboration in Pharmacy Training

The MoH has continued to collaborate with UNZA in a number of ways including providing the

clinical ground for experiential learning with patients, clinical trainings fields of specialist learning,

ground for internship training that is funded etc. The Department of Pharmacy training program was

in essence developed on the UTH grounds as earlier stated. The clinical component of pharmacy

training takes a good chunk of students’ training as a way of applying the pre-clinical sessions

(basic sciences) in pharmacy training. Some of the academic staff are engaged on honorary basis at

hospital practicing sites including pharmacists that provide clinical tutorial support to

undergraduates. The clinical components of this curriculum, taught to all 4th

and 5th

year students,

are a distinguishing feature of other comparable BPharm degree programs. In addition to tutorial

sessions for the students of pharmacy, most, if not all the engaged tutors are also involved in

clinical demonstrations at the hospital, community / retail and other related fields of pharmacy

practice

Training Facilities

Up until now, the Department of Pharmacy at the School of Medicine is being housed in Clinic 2

Block at UTH for administration of the department. The program has been delivered to the students

under four main training course themes (groups) and each covering appropriate number of

course/subject titles as follows:

1. Sources and Chemistry of Drugs (SCD) – Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Biochemistry,

Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy

2. Compounding Basis of Drugs (CBD) – General Pharmaceutics, Radiopharmaceutics,

Biopharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Technology and Systems, Research & Biostatistics

3. Scientific Basis of Therapeutics (SBT) - Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmaceutical Microbiology

(Virology; Bacteriology; Parasitology; Mycology; Immunology), Pharmacology, Clinical

Pharmacy

4. Practical Basis of Pharmacy (PBP) – Forensic Pharmacy, Pharmacy Law & Ethics, Hospital

Pharmacy, Community Pharmacy, Industrial Pharmacy, Veterinary Pharmacy,

Pharmacoeconomics

The delivery of the course themes as stated above was initiated and has continued to be undertaken

through two stages: Pre-clinical and Clinical Years of training. At pre-clinical stage, each of the

course theme, of scientific components is being taught while the clinical stage handles clinical

components of each corresponding theme.

In the interim, pharmacy training was designed to be taught under the established and appropriate

existing facilities at the University of Zambia in general and this arrangement has continued to exist

to date. The facilities that were identified at the time were based at the following training sites of

UNZA:


1. Department of Chemistry at School of Natural Sciences – Science components of SCD

2. Department of Anatomy at School of Medicine – Anatomy of SBT

3. Department of Physiological Sciences at School of Medicine – Physiology of SBT

4. Department of Microbiology & Pathology at School of Medicine – Pharmaceutical

Microbiology of SBT

5. Pharco Production Unit at Medical Stores Limited – Pharmaceutical Technology & Systems

6. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Unit at Pharmanova - Pharmaceutical Technology &

Systems

7. Clinical Departments at UTH - Clinical components of each theme

8. Department of Pharmacy at UNZA – Core courses and Clinical components of each theme

- Various laboratory sessions are currently being done at UNZA Ridgeway sited laboratories,

Food & Drugs laboratory facilities for MOH, Laboratory facilities for Geological Survey

department

- Pharmaceutical Technology sessions are being undertaken at identified pharmaceutical

companies mainly for skills demonstration procedures (only at Pharmanova).

- Dispensing process has been actualized and as such, the clinical students participate in the

actual dispensing of medicines to the actual patients at both UTH main pharmacy and the

satellite clinics and pharmacies at UTH clinical blocks.

- The clinical teaching sessions are undertaken within UTH grounds at both the main and some of

the satellite lecture theatres while the pre-clinical sessions are done at the Ridgeway Campus

grounds.


Departmental Organization and Teaching Staff Requirements

1 Departmental Head

There is one head of the department to head four main units:

Compounding Basis of Drugs / Scientific Basis of Therapeutics / Sources and Chemistry of

Drugs / Practical Basis of Pharmacy

Each of these units are to be headed by one unit leader and taught through main course sections

as listed below:

2 Sources and Chemistry of Drugs (SCD) – Unit Head

Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Three lecturers

Biochemistry - Three lecturers

Medicinal Chemistry - Three lecturers

Pharmacognosy - Three lecturers

3 Compounding Basis of Drugs (CBD) – Unit Head

General Pharmaceutics - Two lecturers

Radiopharmaceutics - Two lecturers

Biopharmaceutics - Two lecturers

Pharmaceutical Technology and Systems - Four lecturers

Research & Biostatistics - Two lecturers

4 Scientific Basis of Therapeutics (SBT) – Unit Head

Anatomy - Two lecturers

Physiology - Two lecturers

Pharmaceutical Microbiology - Four lecturers

Pharmacology - Three lecturers

Clinical Pharmacy - Three lecturers

5 Practical Basis of Pharmacy (PBP) – Unit Head

Pharmacy Profession - One lecturer

Forensic Pharmacy - One lecturer

Pharmacy Law & Ethics - Two lecturers

Hospital Pharmacy - Four lecturer

Community Pharmacy - Three lecturer

Industrial Pharmacy - Two lecturer

Veterinary Pharmacy - One lecturer

Pharmacoeconomics - One lecturer


STRATEGIC ANALYSIS:

Based on the challenges and difficulties that have been experienced over the years the program has

been running, the following SWOT analysis has been designed and followed to highlight some

areas of strength and weakness for future positive progress for the program. Also to help the

localized training program to position itself for the global changing trends for future requirements in

pharmaceutical personnel training.

SWOT Analysis:

The table below shows the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats identified and what

these may mean to the intended growth of the department.

STRENGTHS STRENGTHS STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

Established department with specified program of training at

UNZA through SoM - Potential and easy identification, mobilization and appropriate

utilization of resources and great deal of trust with partners in

research, training and practice

Available expertise in different fields of pharmacy for

pharmacy training. - Were able to initiate new courses to any level of pharmacy

training and thus remain competitive with other emerging similar

program both locally and globally.

Strong support from UNZA Central administration - Continue to align programmes to UNZA strategic plan and National Health SP in the production of pharmaceutical

personnel in all aspects of pharmaceutical care delivery

strategies.

Available government commitment through the Ministry of

health’s National Drug Policy document – NDP (1998). - Continued alignment to the NDP document which has identified

appropriate training orientation of basic and specialist

pharmaceutical personnel for the ministry is very cardinal.

- The department has a unique functional role to produce such personnel for the ministry.

Professional recognition by appropriate national bodies of

pharmacy for Zambia (Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia)

and Health professions Council (HPCZ) for professional

registration.

- This is critical as these bodies ratify the authenticity of qualified

and practicing pharmaceutical personnel for the country and

beyond through strategies such as internship training of trained

pharmaceutical graduates.

Professional recognition by appropriate intertnational bodies of pharmacy for the region and global (International

Federation for Pharmacists – FIP, African Centre of

Excellence in Pharmacy Education – ACExP, UNESCO and

WHO through FIP collaboration, etc) for global harmony in

pharmaceutical education and practice.

- This is critical as these bodies are designing and encouraging global harmonization in pharmaceutical education and practice.

- Such strategies enhances uniformity of global training outcomes in pharmacy training as well as global harmonization in practice

Co-existence of health professional trainees at the school. - Though may have been viewed negatively by few health trainers specifically at the School of Medicine, this has been a strength as

a building block to strengthen comprehensive team work for end-

users benefits during the clinical application of learned

knowledge.

- Interactive communication among the health workers on patients has been improved unlike in the past.


Available stakeholder partnerships - Both locally and abroad, such relationship for pharmacy training at UNZA has and continues to exist.

- The training program does not exist in isolation. It is part of

global family in terms of formal orientation of pharmaceutical work personnel.

Viability of the training program - This is evidenced by situational analysis and policy direction

adopted by the government in the 1990s to domesticate and

consolidate the training of pharmaceutical professionals for the country.

- The viability of the program to this time is not questionable.

Almost all the graduates from the program have been absorbed

into both public and private health service from internship to permanent engagement.

- Unlike in the past when pharmaceutical care provision was

central based, the number of qualified pharmacists in the country

can effectively participate in the decentralization of pharmaceutical care provision to all the parts of the country

Course structure and mode of implementation. - Course contents of pharmacy training and the way such course

have been structured and implemented have internally been

acknowledged to be of international standards (regarded as a

regional model program to train present-day pharmacists.

Network and linkages with regional and global institutions - Leverage to acquire resources for improvement of training, research and diagnostic services has existed from the beginning

and has continued to this point (DFID, FIP, RGU, Samford

University, UNC etc)

WEAKNESSES WEAKNESSES STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

Dependence on GRZ grant to run training programmes at

government institutions like UNZA - Inadequate GRZ grant levels results in limited success against

set targets - resulting into very slow pace of program

development as earlier anticipated.

- Government grants are more dependent on political structures and direction such that any less emphasis on grants provision

directly affects the strategical development of such programs as

pharmacy training in the country

Inadequate number of appropriately teaching staff and

operational process. - This is with reference to the recommended staffing levels for the

department. This may have compromised the quality of training,

research and diagnostic service available

- The situation may have led to desperate need for such personnel resulting in the engagement of academic personnel that bear less

or not at all required qualifications to take up such

responsibilities.

- This may be very evident in private-based training institutes where the engagement was money motivated as opposed to

quality motivation

Inadequate infra-structure facilities, equipment for training,

research equipment and diagnosis - This also could have compromised quality of training, research

and diagnosis available

- This challenge was compounded by the leadership qualities and

desires at the host school for UNZA.


- The change of school’s leadership brought destructive change to the infra-structure as identified and initiated by the earlier

leadership as witnessed from in-coming deanship of 2012 at the

School of Medicine.

- This deanship change brought desperation and temporal stoppage on the progressive development of pharmacy training

at UNZA for the country

Interim arrangements at the school - Being a temporal arrangements enroute to permanent arrangements brought static development in pharmacy training

process at UNZA.

- The developmental plans for localized pharmacy training were

not emphasized.

- Overall, this has tended to retard developmental desire for the

pharmacy training in the country

Negative feelings about the new training programs that are

currently quite eminent at the school - As earlier indicated, such feelings have exhibited natural

negative effects on the expected output of the training programs

including pharmacy at the school

Administrative structure at the School that has continued to

operate on interim basis arrangements - limited aspirations to develop individual health professional

programs for the university, resulting in the suppression of newly

upcoming health training programs

Stream-alignment of pharmacists training among other

health workers training is absent - This is promoting unspecified pathway for pharmacists training

output

- This could be due to unavailability of appropriately oriented academic personnel to take up teaching responsibilities as

required in pharmacy training.

OPPRTUNITIES OPPRTUNITIES STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

Strong partnerships at the regional and global level - Enhance mobilization of resources to meet emerging needs in

modern pharmacy training process.

- Through the regional and global block collaboration, exchange of pharmaceutical education and practice process and general

academic communication (teaching materials etc) have

continued to exist and flow such as African Centre of Excellence

in Pharmacy Education.

Established SoM - This establishment provided a learning platform to have initiated a very successful new health training program at UNZA.

- By learning from past experiences with the School of Medicine establishment, enabled the pharmacy training program aim to

start on a solid foundation for reliable and quality output.

Increased demand for graduate pharmaceutical personnel - This has been exhibited in the number of applicants desiring to take up pharmacy training at UNZA has continuously been

scaling up.

- This has direct effect on the trained and recruited number of pharmaceutical graduates from UNZA into both public and

private practice


Appropriateness of the graduates - This is reflected on the manner and methodology adopted to train pharmaceutical personnel in the country and for the country’s

pharmaceutical service delivery strategies.

- The training model as employed locally has also received approval from the international professional bodies observers

such as FIP

Lack of variety of postgraduate training programmes on

offer in Pharmacy. - Presently, only one line of postgraduate has been established

mainly to provide the pharmacist graduates learning ground for advanced knowledge in clinical applications of pharmaceutical

knowledge.

- However, initiation of new postgraduate programme is an

opportunity for the department to grow in stature and also to strengthen staff development programme in the department for

development of quality teachers and equip specialist personnel

for public pharmaceutical care health services

Co-existence of most health professional training programs

(Medicare, Nursing care, Pharmaceutical care, laboratory

etc)

- Basis to build strong health team workers to comprehensively

meet the needs of patients.

THREATS THREATS STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

Inadequate funding for training, research and diagnosis - Offer new short courses for in service personnel as basis for income generation in the department to finance gaps

- Such challenges incite or encourage unwarranted initiatives that

are merely designed for self-reliance than quality-based initiatives

Emergency of unauthorized pharmaceutical training

institutions. - This is so especially if the bodies that are perceived as regulators

are in support of such developments.

- Regular checks on the number of authorized institutions by appropriate bodies are cardinal to maintain the professional

principles of pharmaceutical care for the country.

- Such developments encourage unwarranted initiatives that are merely designed for self-reliance than quality-based initiatives.

- The engagement of human resource into such establishments is not transparency as for public institutions, hence a very high

chances of quality compromise in terms of qualifications

requirements

Limited availability of work opportunities in the public

sector and University of Zambia included. - Timely review of conditions of service for academic staff and

health sector in general is cardinal to enhance competitiveness

and discourage complacency

- General academic progress appraisal system at government tertiary systems is poorly managed to disadvantage and

discourage well meaning members engaged with such training

systems and UNZA is not exempted.

- It is possible to score very high in terms of academic progress at UNZA and yet not noticed.


Conclusions

Stakeholder Analysis:

The stakeholders play a crucial role in strategic plan implementation by providing support in form

of funding and technical assistance, marketing and even good will. The following were identified

and have continued to play a pivot role as stakeholders for the department of pharmacy at the

University of Zambia: GRZ (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Technical &

Vocational training, University Teaching Hospital, etc) UNZA (Vice-chancellor, Deputy Vice

Registrar etc), Dean’s Office (Undergraduate and Graduate training), Regulatory Professional

Bodies (Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia - PSZ, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority - PRA,

Health Professions Council of Zambia - HPCZ), Professional and Academic Stakeholder

Affiliates (FIP, CPA, Regional training institution such as Malawi college of Medicine, Makerere

University, Watersrand – SA, Overseas institutions such as Robert Gordon – UK, Samford – USA,

UNC – USA etc):

GRZ: This group of stakeholders has the obligation as per University of Zambia institution in

form of employment and allocation of funds as appropriately budgeted by the government and

timely disbursed to the institution for its obligatory operations. This is the major source of

funding for the department.

UNZA: This group of stakeholders has the obligation as per University of Zambia institution in

form of employment and disbursement of financial grants as approved by the government for

the operations of the individual university functional units. This is the major route of all monies

for university functional units.

Regulatory Professional Bodies: This group of stakeholders is available for a variety of

support that includes technical, professional, financial and sometimes even academic in nature.

The Department Pharmacy as a single unit of UNZA is affiliated to national bodies such PRA,

PSZ (HPAZ), Medical Stores of Zambia and international bodies such as FIP etc.

Professional and Academic Stakeholder Affiliates: This group of stakeholders is also

available for a variety of support that includes technical, professional, financial and sometimes

even academic in nature. Through affiliations with CPA, they have continued to supply reading

- This is because the appraisal system is subjective rather objective, creating room for subjective manipulation by either

individuals or through established channels of duty

responsibilities

Political partnership - Operate as partners with GRZ and UNZA central administration by aligning as much as possible to UNZA and National Health

SPs priorities.

- This may have negative effect if over emphasized

Academic authenticity of health training process and

facilities at UTH undefined - This has posed uncertainties and a lot of assumptions as to ‘who

is who’ at the school


materials such as BNFs and coordinate lecture materials from other sister training institutions

such as Robert Gordon etc.

Strategic options

Move on from point of temporal to permanent position in training pharmaceutical professionals

locally at Ridgeway Campus under the University of Zambia

Renovation of old building structures or construction of new structures at both Ridgeway

identified sites to train pharmaceutical personnel

Strengthen pharmacy training program for its teaching technical staff membership by

implementing various postgraduate specialist training in respective disciplines.

Identify and implement short courses in the department in order to improve knowledge skills in

the profession and health services area of pharmacy.

Lobbying for funding to establish the appropriate learning environment in terms the laboratory

equipment, lecturing space and arrangement, employing adequate number of qualified academic

and other support staff for the department etc in order to strengthen and enhance undergraduate

and graduate training, research and diagnostic services for the department.

Establish a monitoring and evaluation unit in the department to measure impact of programmes

and individual contributions with regard to academic progression of individual academic

contributions

Strategic direction:

Taking into account the SWOT analysis and the strategic options that have been identified and

stated as above, the pharmacy training program is described in logistical ways its operational

objectives may be achieved as expected for the future of the profession in line with global standards

set by world health organizations such as WHO.

The overall aim of the locally established training pathway for pharmaceutical personnel was to

offer quality and appropriate training at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in knowledge

acquisition, research and diagnostic clinical services for pharmaceutical procedure in various

operational fields of pharmacy and make such as closely associated to the people’s needs as

possible.

References:

1. National Drug Policy, 1999

2. Strategic Plan (2015 – 2017) UNZA

3. National Health Strategic Plan (2011 – 2015) Ministry of Health, Zambia

4. National Education Strategic Plan (Planipolis-UNESCO) Ministry of Education, Zambia

local pharmacists training developmental history

Healthcare