By THANDIWE MOYO –
IN Zambia, a bigger percentage of the population lives in rural and peri-urban areas.
But in such areas, access to pharmacies and essential medicines is limited because the majority of licenced pharmacists choose to live and work in urban areas where there are more opportunities.
This state of affairs has left many people struggling as they search for medical facilities and services.
To make matters worse, most health centres are located far from the communities.
This means  that primary healthcare in some rural and peri-urban areas is quite unattainable due to the many challenges people face such as, lack of transport and shortage of qualified health professionals.
Some residents in such areas feel constrained with the lack of health centres and the absence of qualified professionals like pharmacists which is responsible for the increase in the practice of selling prescribed medication by unprofessional traders operating shops which are likely to be unregistered.
Joshua Kambo who lives in Tufi-Twambwa Village in Masaiti District, said he had to walk for more than 20 kilometres from his house to the nearest health centre to access health services.
Kambo said on certain occasions, he failed to go to the health centre on account of the distance he had to cover to reach the clinic which made him weaker.
He said the community in his village needed a pharmacy were people could obtain over-the-counter medication and services such as chlorine for water treatment, medicine for malaria, mosquito nets, anti-retroviral drugs  (ARVs) and other essential health facilities.
Margaret Pemba of Chikuku Village in Serenje, who is HIV positive, said she had to go to Serenje Boma to obtain her ARVs.
She covers more than 25 kilometres to get to the Boma.
Ms Pemba further said the road to her village has portholes and most drivers were not willing to drive on it.
Therefore, she is forced to walk 25 kilometres to get her drugs.
Ministry of Health and Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) have come up with a national health strategic plan of allowing and opening up what are called health shops in rural and peri-urban areas to increase the public’s access to medicines that can be obtained over the counter.
Health shops are outlets that will sale over-the-counter medicine and some prescribed drungs  which will be permitted and regulated by authorities in order to increase access of quality health care in places that have limited numbers of pharmacists.
ZAMRA director Bernice Mwale said the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Board had observed that registered pharmacies were only in urban areas, making it quite impossible for communities in rural areas to access some public health services.
“Our main objective is to bring medical services to the people through shops that will be accredited by ZAMRA officials,” she said.
Ms Mwale said the regulatory board would provide short courses for all volunteers who may be interested in selling quality medicine in rural and peri-urban areas.
She said ZAMRA was aware of small retailers who sold prescribed medicine in rural areas and that the implementation of health shops was not meant to stop the illegal sellers but to improve their pharmaceutical shops towards standards that were professional and satisfactory in health ethics.
“Instead of closing shops that trade illegally in rural and peri-urban areas, as a regulatory board we have come up with a better solution of improving the health shops by upgrading and giving short courses to traders in our communities. This will make it easy for communities to receive affordable, quality health services,” she said.
She urged youths and stakeholders to get involved in executing the programme.
She said already, health shops have been rolled out in Muchinga and Western provinces.
Health Minister Joseph Kasonde who welcomed the move said Government was aware of the problems that people in rural and peri-urban areas faced concerning medical healthcare.
“Looking at the challenges that people face in rural and peri urban areas, Government enacted the Medicines and Allied Substances Act which provided for the health shops concept,” he said.
Dr Kasonde said with additional funding from Government and stakeholders, the implementation of health shops would be extended in all needful areas.
He said the implementation of health shops was supported by Government plans of  providing healthcare services closer to the communities, and that  every Zambian should embrace and support the initiative.
In as much as implementation of health shops may sound good and positive, it is also important that the policy of regulating health shop owners is properly done.
Besides that, there is need for a serious monitoring mechanism to be put in place.
It is important that for this initiative to achieve its intended goals, effective measures and regulations should be put in place so that people’s lives are not endangered due to cases of abuse or drug overdosed as some prescribed medicine need a doctor’s prescription.
Therefore, ZAMRA needs to ensure strict check-ups and regulations are enforced on all those operating   health shops.