Role of pharmacist – AIDS

Cases where AIDS has been diagnosed are outnumbered by those who have been infected by the virus but who have not yet actually developed the disease. According to the WHO estimates, this infected population amounted to 40 million by the year 2000.
Discrimination- which may be medical, social or economical is faced by most AIDS victims world-wide. This, if not anything else, should wake us to the danger of AIDS- biologically and socially.
Pharmacist around the world are the health professionals who are best equipped to fight against this disease for the simple reasons that they are:
• They are the most easily accessible professionals for the most of the general public because they are less intimidating, therefore more approachable, than are doctors.
• They are trained by experience of being able to talk and provide information about many different health topics
• Professionally, they are always in contact with people in epidemiological, diagnostic and therapeutic fields such as doctors, diagnosticians etc. Thus, in alliance with them, they can participate actively in the treatment of patients and thus make a major contribution to the collection, analysis and communication of the patient’s health statistics.
Individual pharmacists in association with national and international associations or federations can incorporate the following principles in order to help AIDS victims through their long, hard journey of treatment and eventual recovery.
• The most important step in the fight against AIDS is to decrease and finally completely eradicate the discrimination faced by AIDS victims. This is possible by starting and encouraging support groups for the victims.
• To try and make sure that all treatments that have proven effective are made accessible to patients who can derive benefit from them.
• Co-ordinate with all those working in public health education, and seek closer ties with other individuals and community groups who could be usefully involved in the effort to combat the disease, in terms of prevention, treatment and patient-care and support - teachers, family associations, politicians, etc., and through community involvement of pharmacists
• Provide information on Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) prevention and treatment in order to promote 'health awareness behaviour' with regard to STDs
• Motivate fellow pharmacists to get involved at all level in the making of public policies related to HIV-control
• Promote interactions between health professionals, financing bodies and patient associations: such an initiative will ensure the comprehensive care of the greatest number of patients, fully taking care of both ethical and cost-effectiveness requirements
• Develop programmes that will allow patients to educate others in the fight also by imparting information about preventive measure such as safe needle usage, safe sex etc.

AIDS is a deadly epidemic and will continue to stay that way: if we do not get over our fear and start educating ourselves and everyone around us about it.

Citation: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/415040_side1