January 22, 2014
Namibia Gets First-Ever Pharmacy Degree Program – with Help from UW
Namibia’s Founding Father and UNAM Chancellor H.E. Dr. Sam Nujoma presenting a Certificate of Appreciation to the University of Washington, Accepted by Professor Andy Stergachis
The Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services recently took an important step toward reducing a critical shortage of pharmacists in a country where more than 13 percent of adults have HIV/AIDS and have high risks of contracting diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Thanks in part to a collaboration with the University of Washington, Namibia opened the country’s first-ever pharmacy degree program at the University of Namibia (UNAM), located in the capital city of Windhoek. According to UNAM, the country of 2 million people currently has less than 200 pharmacists.
This past March, Namibia’s Former President and Founding Father Sam Nujoma officially launched the pharmacy program and welcomed the first class of students. UW’s Andy Stergachis, a professor of epidemiology and global health and adjunct professor of pharmacy and health services, was in Namibia for the celebration. “It was powerful to see this group of pharmacy students who will be part of something so important to the entire nation of Namibia,” he said.
Stergachis, a key player in the formation of this degree program, is a principal investigator on the UW Management Sciences for Health/Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems (SPS) grant. SPS is a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to help developing countries strengthen and manage pharmaceutical systems and improve access to and use of quality medicines. Through his grant, Stergachis and two School of Pharmacy faculty members — Professor Lou Garrison and affiliate professor John Watkins — traveled to Namibia in early 2009 to train UNAM leadership on pharmacovigilance (the science and application of drug safety) and pharmacoeconomics.
In addition, Stergachis helped the UW enter into conversations about collaborating with UNAM. In April 2009, UNAM officials sent a delegation to UW to meet with leadership from the School of Pharmacy, the Department of Global Health, and the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH). During that visit, School of Pharmacy Dean Thomas Baillie and other UW faculty members expressed interest in helping UNAM develop a pharmacy degree program within the UNAM School of Medicine.
Since that time, multiple UW pharmacy faculty members have advised UNAM faculty members on curriculum issues and helped with faculty recruitment. Stergachis has returned to Namibia several times to offer additional workshops and consultations to faculty and administrators at the UNAM School of Medicine.
Meanwhile, leaders at UNAM have been advertising the new degree program, ensuring the curriculum meets international best practice standards, reviewing applications from potential students and recruiting faculty. The Namibian Ministry of Health has also been building clinical training centers for the students.
The first class of pharmacy students at the University of Namibia, joined by several university officials.
In February 2011, everything came together when 24 pharmacy students started classes at the University of Namibia. This marked the creation of a degree program that has not existed in Namibia since the country gained independence from South Africa in 1990.
By taking this step to end the country’s pharmacist shortage, the Namibian Ministry of Health is seeking to ease the burden on the country’s limited health care resources. More pharmacists will mean the population will have greater access to vaccinations, disease screenings and important medications. Pharmacists also provide important medication safety and adherence consultations to people taking medications. For Namibians on antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV or medications to treat tuberculosis, such consultations can be crucial.
So as the first class of pharmacy students at UNAM now enters its third month of classes, Stergachis and School of Pharmacy Associate Dean of Professional Pharmacy Education Stan Weber are continuing to help UNAM develop its pharmacy degree program. They are offering their expertise, providing workshops online and sharing teaching resources with faculty members in Namibia. In addition, during the next academic year, UW pharmacy student Elise Fields will travel to Windhoek as a UW Thomas Francis, Jr. Global Health Fellow, where she’ll help the Windhoek General Hospital develop a pharmacy practicum site.
Officials in Namibia, including Former President Nujoma, have expressed much optimism about what this new pharmacy degree program will mean for the country’s future.
“It is my wish and hope that future pharmacists qualifying from UNAM will be available to serve Namibians through the public, private and non-governmental sectors,” said Nujoma, who is also the UNAM chancellor, in a press release. He also said that he hopes the degree program will eventually lead to local pharmaceutical manufacturing plants that can harness the country’s wealth of traditional medicines and natural plants.
By Melinda Young
School of Pharmacy
This article was featured in the April 20, 2011 edition of UW Today and can be found here: http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/nambia-gets-first-ever-pharmacy-degree-program-with-help-from-uw
