Involvement of community pharmacy professionals in maternal health service provision in Ethiopia: a multi-centre cross-sectional survey

Abstract Objectives In countries with high maternal mortality and a shortage of healthcare professionals, community pharmacy professionals can provide important maternal healthcare services within their scope of practice. Evidence of community pharmacy professionals’ level of involvement in maternal health service provision in Ethiopia is limited. This study aimed to assess the level of involvement of community pharmacy professionals in providing maternal health services in Ethiopia. Methods A multi-centre cross-sectional survey of 238 community pharmacy professionals was conducted from March to July 2020 in 6 cities of Amhara regional state in Ethiopia. Independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the mean difference. Key findings Most community pharmacy professionals were either ‘involved’ in advising about vitamins (53.4%), provision of contraceptives (52.9%), advising about lifestyle changes (46.2%), responding to minor symptoms (47.5%), nutritional advice during pregnancy (45.0%) and breastfeeding guidance or ‘very involved’ in advising about screening for chronic disease (41.6%). However, the level of involvement of community pharmacy professionals differed according to study participants’ educational qualification/s, years of experience, licensure level, setting type, responsibility in the facility and previous training exposure about maternal health services. Conclusions Community pharmacy professionals in Ethiopia are involved in providing various maternal health services highlighting the importance that pharmacists can play in improving access and care within this context. However, government attention is needed to enhance their role through policy support and capacity building to improve the quality of service provided which could contribute to the reduction of maternal mortality.