Patients have hope for the future because of their ability to access drugs today. By working with the national pharmacy system to forecast, monitor, and distribute a continuous supply of antiretroviral drugs, ensure their safety and quality, and make them available free to patients, CIDRZ has helped change the view of the future for many people living with HIV and AIDS.
CIDRZ strengthens the public health pharmacy system, helping to forecast national drug supply needs, supporting the public drug supply chain, procuring additional drug supplies as needed, and establishing a robust drug and medical supply procurement and management system in its supported sites.
The CIDRZ Pharmacy team strengthens clinic pharmacy systems by working with pharmacy and nursing staff and providing training in Good Pharmacy Practice and in pharmacy management for HIV/AIDS patients. CIDRZ pharmacists also provide training in proper forecasting and ordering of drugs at the clinic level. CIDRZ pharmacists have established pharmacy quality assurance procedures in CIDRZ-supported clinics.
The CIDRZ Pharmacy team has trained 1,200 peer educators and HIV support group members to provide adherence counseling for HIV/AIDS patients. Peer educators now earn a regular income by providing adherence counseling at every pharmacy visit. And by training peer educators in adherence counseling, the Pharmacy team has helped nurses and pharmacy technicians focus on providing clinical care.
The Pharmacy team also establishes and manages all CIDRZ research pharmacies per NIAIDS guidelines, including research pharmacies for HPTN, AACTG, and IMPACT network studies. Rigorous research pharmacy guidelines specify all aspects of pharmacist supervision, pharmacy technologist training, dispensation protocol, drug storage conditions, and documentation maintenance.