Eulalee Thompson
BY EULALEE THOMPSON
Kingston-based pharmacist, Dahlia McDaniel, wants to do more to protect her
inner-city clientele from the life-threatening human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
IN THE heart of Kingston, West Queen Street, where Dahlia McDaniel practises as a pharmacist, she sees at least 10 clients every day requesting "the morning-after pill". For some of her clients, this high-dose contraceptive method, intended as an emergency method to prevent pregnancy, is being used as the main method of protection.
"We sell it (the morning-after pill) like water downtown. Some clients are coming once per week. It's not a prescription item but what we call a 'pharmacy control' item dispensed based on an interview with the pharmacist. It is one of the most popular items in pharmacy," said Ms. McDaniel.
Costing between $500 and $600 per use (for two tablets), her clients are shelling out a tidy sum on this emergency method Postinor meant to be taken 48 to 72 hours after an act
of unprotected sex. It's high level of levonorgestrel a synthetic female sex hormone decreases the woman's chances of becoming
pregnant.
HIGH LEVEL OF UNPROTECTED SEX
But it was not so much the money being spent by her clients that struck this pharmacist, bitten by the 'social conscience bug', it was the indication that there was a high level of unprotected sexual encounters taking place among her clientele in the innercity and a consequent increased
potential for exposure to sexually
transmitted infections (STIs),
especially the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV). She wanted to do more.
"I was frustrated that I could do no more than provide antiretrovirals and counselling," she said.
To do more as a pharmacist, she spoke to local experts in the field of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Peter Figueroa, Chief of AIDS and Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, introduced her to the concept of double protection twinning a non-barrier method of contraception such as "the Pill" with a barrier method such as
the condom.
Ms. McDaniel sought the co-operation of some condom distribution companies to start a new pharmacy-based HIV/AIDS project.
"At my pharmacies, each of the 600 clients per month who purchase the contraceptive pill is given a pack of condoms... This project does not guarantee condom use, since we know that there are several social, cultural and economic factors which limit one's ability to implement prevention messages. However accessibility has been shown in many cases to increase use," she said.
This new project is one of the cornerstone ideas in her plan to develop 'a national HIV/AIDS pharmacy-based initiative'. She wants her colleague pharmacists to do more.
"We want to prevent new HIV/AIDS infections, increase access to antiretrovirals and treatment programmes, and improve the quality of life of those afflicted with and affected by HIV/AIDS," Ms. McDaniel said.
To achieve these goals, pharmacists will take on new roles through HIV/AIDS education and training programmes. Ms. McDaniel said that the newly-empowered pharmacist should be:
a receptacle for drug information "HIV/AIDS is one of the fastest growing fields of medicine, and requires relentless continuing education. Additionally, pharmacists are the authority on drugs and their usage, and must remain the receptacle of information on antiretrovirals, thereby commanding respect within the health care fraternity," she said.
a counsellor "Skills in counselling therapy must be sharpened. In fact, HIV counselling has now become a speciality area of counselling itself. We also need to be trained in HIV voluntary counselling and testing since these programmes have been shown to be amongst the most effective prevention tools," she said.
a health educator and promoter.
She is preaching not only to local pharmacists but has taken her message to pharmacists at a meeting of The World Congress of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists
in New Orleans, US.
What are your views on the HIV/AIDS
epidemic? You can send comments to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.