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Phillip Passmore

    Phillip Passmore

    There is growing, but belated, concern that much of the developing world’s supply of medicines—in particular, its supply of anti-infective drugs—is of poor quality. This constitutes a major public health pro-blem because the high... more
    There is growing, but belated, concern that much of the developing world’s supply of medicines—in particular, its supply of anti-infective drugs—is of poor quality. This constitutes a major public health pro-blem because the high prevalence of poor quality drugs in developing countries results in avoidable morbidity, mortality, and drug resistance [1–7]. Moreover, any efforts to improve public health by developing new medicines or by changing treatment poli-cies will ultimately be pointless if the drugs patients actually take contain insufficient or incorrect ingredients. Unfortunately, efforts to improve the
    Accurate prediction of those elderly people who are at a high risk of unplanned hospitalisation may assist pharmacists and other health care providers to target health care initiatives more specifically. A prospective study of 84 elderly... more
    Accurate prediction of those elderly people who are at a high risk of unplanned hospitalisation may assist pharmacists and other health care providers to target health care initiatives more specifically. A prospective study of 84 elderly persons, suffering from either ischaemic heart disease or obstructive airways disease, or both, was conducted to identify health-related factors that may be used to predict unplanned hospitalisation. Non-invasive factors, including the sickness impact profile (SIP) health status measure scores, drug consumption, demographic data, smoking history and disease/symptoms experience were determined. For hospitalised patients the overall SIP score was significantly higher (18.93) than for those non-hospitalised (10.54). The physical dimension score (20.76) and the psychosocial dimension score (16.74) were also both significantly higher in the hospitalised than the non-hospitalised group (10.85 and 9.44, respectively). The number of medicines used was highe...
    Drugs are a major technology in preventing and combating disease both at the individual and community levels. Managing this valuable resource for optimum public health benefit is paramount. Pharmacists have been recognized by the World... more
    Drugs are a major technology in preventing and combating disease both at the individual and community levels. Managing this valuable resource for optimum public health benefit is paramount. Pharmacists have been recognized by the World Health Organisation and others as having a key role to play in promoting rational drug use and strengthening effective drug management. However, the profession needs to answer some critical questions relating to effective communication of their clinical role. Factors associated with the primary care role of pharmacists are discussed and include education, social and political pressures and professional attitudes. There is evidence of an expanding role for pharmacy in the health sector and a number of new challenges for pharmacy's role in strengthening public health are emerging. These include the profession's involvement in overcoming chronic shortages of essential drugs, strategies to combat the fake and inferior quality drug problems, and in...