The Pioneer Coordinator of the National Programme on Immunisation, Dr Dere Awosika, has said that Pharmacy’s role is vital to the attainment of the Universal Health Coverage by 2030.

Awosika made the statement on Thursday while delivering the Second Ladipo Mobolaji Abisogun-Afodu Memorial Lecture held at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos.

Awosika in her keynote address, themed, ‘Enhancing the role of pharmacists in public health in Nigeria’, described health care delivery, health workforce and access to essential medicines as three of the six World Health Organisation health system building blocks.

“As an expert, the pharmacist plays a key role in improving health outcomes through the responsible use of medicines and optimising effective choice and use,” she said.

Awosika said the significant role of pharmacists in public health care delivery underscored the fact that they had had to develop enhanced levels of inter-professional relationships with other health care providers.

Pharmacy as a profession, she also noted, had continued to undergo transition, with changes in epidemiological trends, health demands and socio-economic determinants of health.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, represented by Prof Solomon Okunuga, in his welcome address said the lecture was meant to stimulate public discourse in advancing medical practice.

source: PUNCH.

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