PHARMACISTS' KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

Antiretroviral (ARV, drugs are currently used in the treatment of people living with HlV/AlDS (PLWHA) Several studies have been carried out on various categories of healthcare workers, including physicians and nurses, on their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and attitude to PLWHA. Despite the important roles that pharmacists play in the management of PLWHA, few studies have been conducted on the knowledge that pharmacists have about ARV drugs and attitude towards PLWHA. The objective of the study was to assess pharmacists' knowledge of ARV drugs and their attitude towards PLWHA in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study was descriptive and cross-sectional in design. Four hundred respondents consisting of 200 hospital and 200 community pharmacists were systematically selected. The community pharmacists were chosen from the Pharmacists' Council of Nigeria (PCN) registered list of community pharmacists while their hospital counterparts were selected from the twenty-eight government-owned health facilities in the state. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain data on ARV classification, contraindication and drug interaction using the interviewer-administered method. Data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for descriptive statistics, t-test and chi-square. The respondents were made up of about 52% males and 48% females. Their mean age was 34.8 ± 6.2 years while their mean length of practice was 86 ± 60 years. Approximately 64% of the respondents had ever attended one or more HIV/AIDS workshop/conference/seminar. More hospital pharmacists (62%) had attended a HIV/AIDS workshop ‘conference' seminar than the community pharmacists (38%) (p<0.05). Less than half of the respondents (41.3%) had ever dispensed ARV drugs while about 32.8% claimed that a patient on these drugs had reported a side effect to them. The respondents overall mean knowledge score of HIV/AIDS and ARV drugs were 6.4 and 4.0 out of 10 points respectively. The females had better knowledge of HIV/AIDS (6.5) than males (6.2) but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Hospital pharmacists were significantly more knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS (7.6) than the community pharmacists 5.2 (p<0 .05). The female respondents had a statistically higher mean (4.2) knowledge score of ARV drugs than their male counterparts (3.8) (p<0.05). The community pharmacists were less knowledgeable about ARV drug (3.9) than their hospital counterparts (4.1) but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The overall mean knowledge score of indication, classification, drug interaction and contraindication of ARV drugs among the respondents were 3.7, 4.3, 3 3 and 3.2 respectively. The overall mean score on a 24-point PLWHA altitudinal scale showed 16.9 indicating a moderately positive attitude towards PLWHA. Hospital pharmacists had a more positive 17.0 altitudinal disposition towards PLWHA than their community counterparts (16.8) (p >0.05). The poor knowledge that community pharmacists generally have about ARV drugs may undermine their ability Io effectively manage PLWHA It is therefore recommended that educational programme on ARV drugs be carried out to improve their knowledge