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      Medication management and adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives and experiences from LMICs

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          Abstract

          The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is placing a huge strain on health systems worldwide. Suggested solutions like social distancing and lockdowns in some areas to help contain the spread of the virus may affect special patient populations like those with chronic illnesses who are unable to access healthcare facilities for their routine care and medicines management. Retail pharmacy outlets are the likely facilities for easy access by these patients. The contribution of community pharmacists in these facilities in managing chronic conditions and promoting medication adherence during this COVID-19 pandemic will be essential in easing the burden on already strained health systems. This paper highlights the pharmaceutical care practices of community pharmacists for patients with chronic diseases. during this pandemic. This would provide support for the call by the WHO to maintain essential services during the pandemic, in order to prevent non-COVID disease burden on healthcare systems particularly in low-and middle-income countries.

          Highlights

          • The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a huge strain on healthcare systems worldwide.

          • Special patient populations like those with chronic illnesses are unable to access health facilities for their routine care and medicines management.

          • The contribution of community pharmacists in managing chronic conditions and promoting medication adherence during this COVID-19 pandemic is essential.

          • From a pharmaceutical care practice perspective, community pharmacists can provide support in maintaining essential services during the pandemic in order to prevent non-COVID disease burden on healthcare systems.

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          Most cited references31

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          COVID-19 and Italy: what next?

          Summary The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has already taken on pandemic proportions, affecting over 100 countries in a matter of weeks. A global response to prepare health systems worldwide is imperative. Although containment measures in China have reduced new cases by more than 90%, this reduction is not the case elsewhere, and Italy has been particularly affected. There is now grave concern regarding the Italian national health system's capacity to effectively respond to the needs of patients who are infected and require intensive care for SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. The percentage of patients in intensive care reported daily in Italy between March 1 and March 11, 2020, has consistently been between 9% and 11% of patients who are actively infected. The number of patients infected since Feb 21 in Italy closely follows an exponential trend. If this trend continues for 1 more week, there will be 30 000 infected patients. Intensive care units will then be at maximum capacity; up to 4000 hospital beds will be needed by mid-April, 2020. Our analysis might help political leaders and health authorities to allocate enough resources, including personnel, beds, and intensive care facilities, to manage the situation in the next few days and weeks. If the Italian outbreak follows a similar trend as in Hubei province, China, the number of newly infected patients could start to decrease within 3–4 days, departing from the exponential trend. However, this cannot currently be predicted because of differences between social distancing measures and the capacity to quickly build dedicated facilities in China.
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            Diabetes in Sub Saharan Africa 1999-2011: Epidemiology and public health implications. a systematic review

            Background Diabetes prevalence is increasing globally, and Sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. With diverse health challenges, health authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa and international donors need robust data on the epidemiology and impact of diabetes in order to plan and prioritise their health programmes. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the epidemiological trends and public health implications of diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods We conducted a systematic literature review of papers published on diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa 1999-March 2011, providing data on diabetes prevalence, outcomes (chronic complications, infections, and mortality), access to diagnosis and care and economic impact. Results Type 2 diabetes accounts for well over 90% of diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa, and population prevalence proportions ranged from 1% in rural Uganda to 12% in urban Kenya. Reported type 1 diabetes prevalence was low and ranged from 4 per 100,000 in Mozambique to 12 per 100,000 in Zambia. Gestational diabetes prevalence varied from 0% in Tanzania to 9% in Ethiopia. Proportions of patients with diabetic complications ranged from 7-63% for retinopathy, 27-66% for neuropathy, and 10-83% for microalbuminuria. Diabetes is likely to increase the risk of several important infections in the region, including tuberculosis, pneumonia and sepsis. Meanwhile, antiviral treatment for HIV increases the risk of obesity and insulin resistance. Five-year mortality proportions of patients with diabetes varied from 4-57%. Screening studies identified high proportions (> 40%) with previously undiagnosed diabetes, and low levels of adequate glucose control among previously diagnosed diabetics. Barriers to accessing diagnosis and treatment included a lack of diagnostic tools and glucose monitoring equipment and high cost of diabetes treatment. The total annual cost of diabetes in the region was estimated at US$67.03 billion, or US$8836 per diabetic patient. Conclusion Diabetes exerts a significant burden in the region, and this is expected to increase. Many diabetic patients face significant challenges accessing diagnosis and treatment, which contributes to the high mortality and prevalence of complications observed. The significant interactions between diabetes and important infectious diseases highlight the need and opportunity for health planners to develop integrated responses to communicable and non-communicable diseases.
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              Are high-performing health systems resilient against the COVID-19 epidemic?

              As of March 5, 2020, there has been sustained local transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. 1 Containment strategies seem to have prevented smaller transmission chains from amplifying into widespread community transmission. The health systems in these locations have generally been able to adapt,2, 3 but their resilience could be affected if the COVID-19 epidemic continues for many more months and increasing numbers of people require services. We outline some of the core dimensions of these resilient health systems 4 and their responses to the COVID-19 epidemic. First, after variable periods of adaptation, the three locations took actions to manage the outbreak of a new pathogen. Surveillance systems were readjusted to identify potential cases while public health staff identified their contacts. National laboratory networks developed diagnostic tests once the COVID-19 genetic sequences were published 5 and laboratory testing capacity was increased in all three locations, although expansion of the diagnostic capacity to university and large private laboratories in Japan is still ongoing. In Hong Kong, initially, only pneumonia patients without a microbiological diagnosis were tested, but surveillance has been broadened to include all inpatients with pneumonia and a purposively sampled proportion of outpatients and emergency attendees totalling about 1500 per day (Leung GM, unpublished). Japan's testing strategy has also evolved with diagnostic tests now offered to all suspected cases irrespective of their travel history; however, there are reports of cases that should have been tested but were not. Different strategies were used to selectively control travellers entering these locations. In Singapore, there was a stepwise series of decisions to restrict entry for anyone from mainland China and, more recently, from northern Italy, Iran, and South Korea. Hong Kong has imposed mandatory 14-day quarantine for everyone who enters from the mainland, and denies entry to non-local visitors from South Korea and Iran as well as the most affected parts of Italy. In Japan, there were travel restrictions on citizens from Hubei and Zhejiang provinces, and cruise ships with cases of COVID-19 were quarantined. Second, intragovernmental coordination was improved because health authorities drew on their experiences of severe acute respiratory syndrome during 2002–03 in Hong Kong and Singapore, H5N1 avian influenza in 1997 in Hong Kong, and the 2009 influenza H1N1 pandemic in all three locations. Hong Kong and Singapore began interministerial coordination within the first week, whereas Japan did this in early February when the operation to quarantine passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship was heavily criticised as inadequate, resulting in the widespread infections among crew and passengers. Third, all locations adapted financing measures so that all direct costs for treating patients are borne by the governments. In Singapore, the government pays the cost of hospitalisation, irrespective of whether the patient is from Singapore or abroad. In Japan, funding has been provided through routine financing and contingency funds. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is using routine financing that already pays for all such care. Fourth, the three health systems developed plans to sustain routine health-care services, but the integration of services has been problematic. In Japan, as the capacity at designated hospitals becomes overstretched, the coordination between hospitals and local government will be a major challenge. In Singapore, at the beginning of the outbreak, there were difficulties with disseminating information to the private sector. In all locations, intensive-care unit bed capacity is limited. © 2020 Roslan Rahman/Getty Images 2020 Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. Fifth, in all locations, critical care treatment and medicines have been available for patients with COVID-19, but adequate supplies of personal protective equipment in hospitals and face masks in the community are a key concern. In Japan and Hong Kong, hospital supplies are running low but have not yet impacted clinical management. In all locations, pressure on critical care treatment is likely if there is a sustained increase in cases of COVID-19. Sixth, in all three locations training and adherence to infection prevention and control measures in hospitals have largely been appropriate, but Japan could face a shortage of infectious disease specialists. Health-care staff are stretched in all localities, especially in selected designated hospitals. Long-term escalation in the need for health services will place pressures on health-care workers, and could at some point compromise the clinical management of people with COVID-19 and other patients. Seventh, management of information systems is comprehensive in all locations. In Singapore, there are almost daily meetings between Regional Health System managers, hospital leaders, and the Ministry of Health. However, in Japan information sharing across prefectures could be improved. The interoperability of systems between the government health department and public hospitals in Hong Kong is not optimal. Timely, accurate, and transparent risk communication is essential and challenging in emergencies because it determines whether the public will trust authorities more than rumours and misinformation. 6 Singapore health authorities provide daily information on mainstream media, the Ministry of Health has Telegram and WhatsApp groups set up with doctors in the public and private sectors where more detailed clinical and logistics information is shared, and authorities use websites to debunk circulating misinformation. Risk communications to establish trust in authorities has been less successful in Japan and Hong Kong. Finally, the political environment and differences in communities and their moods and values are important. The ongoing social unrest in Hong Kong has led to a breakdown of public trust with the government 7 and affected front-line health-care staff and the reception and acceptance of government information. 8 In Hong Kong and Singapore, rumours led to panic purchasing to the extent that shops ran out of some food and supplies. 9 In Japan, concerns related to the Diamond Princess cruise ship and the sudden announcement of school closures fuelled increased public anxiety. The three locations introduced appropriate containment measures and governance structures; took steps to support health-care delivery and financing; and developed and implemented plans and management structures. However, their response is vulnerable to shortcomings in the coordination of services; access to adequate medical supplies and equipment; adequacy of risk communication; and public trust in government. Moreover, it is uncertain whether these systems will continue to function if the requirement for services surges. Three important lessons have emerged. The first is that integration of services in the health system and across other sectors amplifies the ability to absorb and adapt to shock. 2 The second is that the spread of fake news and misinformation constitutes a major unresolved challenge. Finally, the trust of patients, health-care professionals, and society as a whole in government is of paramount importance for meeting health crises.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Res Social Adm Pharm
                Res Social Adm Pharm
                Research in Social & Administrative Pharmacy
                Elsevier Inc.
                1551-7411
                1934-8150
                15 April 2020
                15 April 2020
                Affiliations
                [a ]Department of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, P.O. Box LG 43, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
                [b ]Department of Physician Assistantship Studies, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Central University, Accra, Ghana
                Author notes
                []Corresponding author. ikretchy@ 123456ug.edu.gh
                Article
                S1551-7411(20)30332-6
                10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.04.007
                7158799
                32307319
                4109ffb6-369d-4f50-b47d-c1c2922570f7
                © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

                Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

                History
                : 4 April 2020
                : 5 April 2020
                Categories
                Article

                covid-19,chronic diseases,medication adherence,community pharmacists,pharmaceutical care,lmics

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