For more than nine years, Sartorius has partnered up with the medical aid organization action medeor e.V. for long-term development projects as well as disaster relief efforts.
In 2021, the Sartorius Lab Products and Services division initiated a Trade-in-program with the goal to finance a feasibility study for the improvement of pharmaceutical training in West Africa. Dr. Buchkremer-Ratzmann, Head of the Department of Medicines and Pharmacy at action medeor, shares insights into the feasibility study and reveals in which areas she sees potential for improvements.
Dr. Buchkremer-Ratzmann, can you take us on a journey – what is Sierra Leone like as a country?
First of all: Thank you for the opportunity to tell you more about the activities of action medeor in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone is a beautiful country with lovely beaches, forests, and good farmland. At the same time, it is one of the least developed countries in the world and still suffering from the aftermaths of the Civil War and the Ebola outbreak. The mortality is still very high, and this is one of the reasons why action medeor is working in the country.
Let’s talk about action medeor’s work in Sierra Leone. What is the problem you are trying to solve?
During our stays in the country, my colleagues and I received reports of medicines shortages wherever we visited health facilities. One of these institutions is the School of Midwifery in the town of Bo which has already been supported by Sartorius in the past, others include hospitals especially outside the capital of Freetown.
Lack of knowledge, especially in the field of good storage practices, result in expired medicines, old reagents, and inactive vaccines.
Dr. Irmgard Buchkremer-Ratzmann from action medeor
And there is an additional challenge that contributes to the problem: Scarce pharmaceutical staff. Lack of knowledge, especially in the field of good storage practices, result in expired medicines, old reagents, and inactive vaccines. Lack of qualified staff means that there is no possibility for proper quantification, for selection of qualified suppliers, for consulting other healthcare workers, and so on.
That’s why we aim to design a project to improve pharmaceutical training in the health centers and ultimately the health of the people in Sierra Leone.
Why It Matters
Expanding and improving the quality of pharmaceutical training in countries like Sierra Leone is an important step, as the demand is currently far greater than the number of trained medical professionals: There are only about 200 pharmacists and 400 pharmaceutical technicians in the entire country – a country the size of Ireland with a population of more than 8.5 million people.
The Aberdeen Women's Center, a hospital based in the country’s capital Freetown, for example, had to wait five years for a pharmaceutical technician to be assigned. The hospital provides around 40,000 consultations per year for mothers and children from low-income families.
Accordingly, the majority of pharmaceutical activities in the country is carried out by semi-skilled workers and the supply situation with medicines, laboratory and hospital equipment is severely limited.
Before setting up the project, you initiated a feasibility study.
That’s right. We aim for a project based on facts, that takes into account all stakeholders and really improves the situation - not a theoretical construct.
During my travels, I met many important stakeholders who might contribute to the solution of the problem. I visited hospitals in Freetown, in Lunsar, in Makeni and Bo. I visited universities and schools. I went to the ministry of Health and spoke to retired UN staff, university professors and so on. For me it was especially important to meet young professionals, pharmacy students, and young people who would like to work in the pharmaceutical sector to get a better idea of the situation.
In general, feasibility studies help us identify needs and gaps, so we can design a tailored project in response to the problem. We usually involve several institutions and partners and we bring in local experts, for example, from the private sector, the public sector, the governmental sector and the educational sector to evaluate the situation and develop the best approach. In Sierra Leone, we held a focus group dialogue with representatives of various organizations and institutions to discuss the situation regarding pharmaceutical training.
We learned that the number of pharmacists in Sierra Leone is very low. They are only about 200, which means that there are only two pharmacists per 100,00 inhabitants.
Most of them are working in Freetown: There are around ten times as many pharmacists working in the country’s capital as in the rest of the country combined! The situation is similar for pharmacy technicians. This means that even in other bigger towns like Makeni and Bo, there is hardly any trained pharmacist, and especially rural areas lack access to pharmaceutical services.
There are around ten times as many pharmacists working in the country’s capital as in the rest of the country combined!
Dr. Irmgard Buchkremer-Ratzmann from action medeor
We also learned that the University of Sierra Leone in Freetown is the only institution in the country that trains pharmaceutical staff: Pharmacists do a bachelor’s degree program and pharmacy technicians are trained in a three-year certificate program. The university is poorly equipped in terms of staff and lab facilities. There is only one lab with 20 workstations for more than 200 students, and there isn’t enough adequate equipment to provide students with practical training.
Other university and training institutes in the country didn’t implement any training offers so far because there is no accreditation process for such programs.
In the focus group discussion, we talked about creating a group of pharmaceutical professionals known as dispensers – a concept already implemented in countries like Tanzania. The required training program can be done in two years, which may encourage greater participation among rural populations and aid in retaining the people in these areas. We decided to explore this option now further going forward.
Which further plans will be part for the project?
Based on these results of the study, we see a number of possible approaches for projects to improve pharmaceutical training in Sierra Leone. Our next step is to discuss these options with potential local implementation partners and finally agree on one approach.
Looking at what we’ve achieved with a similar project in Tanzania shows us that the improvement of pharmaceutical education really makes a difference.
Therefore, we thank you and all our partners for the ongoing support.
About action medor
The German medical aid organization action medeor has worked for sustainable and improved healthcare for people especially in the poorest regions of the world for 60 years now. Based in Tönisvorst on the Lower Rhine, the charitable, non-governmental organization supplies medical aid to healthcare facilities in more than 100 countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In emergencies, action medeor is able to dispatch vital medicines, medical supplies and equipment to the relevant countries within a few hours.
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