­­The Role of Young Pharmacists in Supporting Inclusive Health-Access

By Dwi Prasetyaning Rahmawati(11/8/21)

In this month’s newsletter, the FIP YPG Publication team get an opportunity to have an interview with Elizabeth Chong, from Malaysia who actively supporting inclusive health-access. Some of her roles included being a pharmacist volunteer in a charity clinic for refugees and asylum seekers and also supporting research related to health access for Deaf patients.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017, At least half of the world’s population cannot obtain essential health services, and each year, large numbers of households are being pushed into poverty because they must pay for health care out of their own pockets[1]. The essential health care access is even more challenging for people with disabilities, such as Deaf patients. Statistics from Malaysia’s Social Welfare Department as of 20 April 2019 notes that there are just under 40,000 people registered as persons with hearing disabilities[2]. This background motivates Elizabeth, to join HEARD (HEAlthcaRE needs of the Deaf) Project, a research team from Monash University, Malaysia, together with her colleagues. This project aims to connect Deaf people with healthcare professionals and minimize the communication barrier between them.

“Then how do we better assist Deaf patients as pharmacists?”, is or might be one of the common questions asked. According to Elizabeth, who currently studying for her master in Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, there are some ways that we can do as a pharmacist to better assist Deaf patients. “Basic knowledge of sign language might be necessary”, she said. However, it will be challenging to make sure that every healthcare professional understands sign language. So other options can be using the service from a sign language interpreter. In some countries, the emerge of sign language interpreters in a healthcare facility is already established, but some still find it uncommon. Lastly, and might be one of the feasible ways to communicate with Deaf patients is by using pictures. Pharmacists can use pictures to give counseling and educate the patients about the essential information about their medication since some of the Deaf patients have low literacy levels compared to their hearing counterparts. Instead of only using words, we can add symbols like when the patients have to take their medications.

Not only supporting Deaf patients, but pharmacists can also participate in supporting health equity. Another role that Liz, the nickname of Elizabeth, take is being a pharmacist in a charity clinic for refugee and asylum seekers. Since these populations have limited financial support, even to primary healthcare, they face a struggle in accessing healthcare facilities, resulting in worsening of their health condition that they finally have an urge to go to the hospital. The pharmacist role in this clinic, said Liz, is included supervising medication procurement, ensuring patient safety, and most importantly ensuring that the clinic is culturally appropriate and sensitive to the community, together with other healthcare teams. “It is never a one-man show, it is always a teamwork”, she added.

Thus, there are a lot of ways that pharmacists can do as part of improving global health, and supporting health equity however small our steps are, is one of them.

References

[1] https://www.who.int/news/item/13-12-2017-world-bank-and-who-half-the-world-lacks-access-to-essential-health-services-100-million-still-pushed-into-extreme-poverty-because-of-health-expenses

[2] https://www.monash.edu.my/research/our-research/covid-19-does-not-discriminate