COVID-19 related Pharmacy education and workforce challenges in Zimbabwe

While the national lockdown has presented many challenges for both pharmacy education and pharmacy practice in Zimbabwe, pharmacy educators and policymakers have risen to the occasion, and their response has advanced the profession. This editorial describes the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on pharmacy education and the pharmacy workforce and highlights some of the pragmatic responses and an outlook for the future of pharmacy in Zimbabwe. Copyright © 2020 FIP.

Risks to the community pharmacists and pharmacy personnel during COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives from a low-income country.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that has become a global pandemic. COVID-19 is spreading in Africa, and Zimbabwe has not been spared. The cases in Zimbabwe are mainly from imported cases due to high volume of travellers from the COVID-19 hotspots. In Zimbabwe, local transmission is also anticipated due to inter- and intracity travelling. Frontline health workers are at risk of infection due to contact with infected people as they discharge their duties. In this setting, the risk to community pharmacists and pharmacy personnel is poorly understood and characterised. This paper looked at the risks of infection that are peculiar to community pharmacy personnel and suggested some recommendations to reduce the risk to COVID-19 infection.