Local pharmacists training developmental history

1 Localized Pharmacists Training in Zambia
UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Brief biography of Pharmacy Training in Zambia
(2015)
Compiled By Lungwani T. M. Muungo, PhD

Content Page
Historical background……………………………………………………..3
School of Medicine………………………………………………………16
Department of Pharmacy…………………………………………………19
Programme of study for the degree of bachelor of pharmacy…………….24
Strategic Analysis…………………………………………………………31
References…………………………………………………………………36

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. UNZA was
established in 1965 and officially opened its doors to the public on July 12, 1966. It is the oldest
public university in Zambia. The language of instruction is English.
As stated above, the University of Zambia has been in existence as early as 1965. It is one of the
immediate post colonial rule development into the independence era of the country as an early
effort to domesticate key areas of social amenities. Prior to independence, most of the human
resource requirements for the country’s social and economical spheres was supplied through
colonial systems such Great Britain for Zambia.
To localize such key human resource requirements was the immediate need to the establishment of
the national tertiary education institution in the name of the University of Zambia.
The University of Zambia has over 157 degree and postgraduate degree programmes. The
University of Zambia is divided into the following faculties with respective number of departments:
 School of Agricultural Sciences
 School of Engineering
 School of Education
 School of Humanities and Social Sciences
 School of Law
 School of Mines
 School of Medicine
 School of Natural Sciences
 School of Veterinary Medicine
 Graduate School of Business
Notable alumni
 Levy Mwanawasa, the late Zambian President studied Law at UNZA
 Edgar Lungu, the current Zambian President studied Law at UNZA
 Inonge Wina, the current Vice President of Zambia obtained a BA degree at UNZA
 Ireen Mambilima, the current Chief Justice of Zambia.
 Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the opposition political party UPND studied Economics at
UNZA.
 Monica Nashandi, Namibian ambassador and 1983 graduate
 Edward Makuka Nkoloso, founder of the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space
Research and Philosophy
 Emmerson Mnangagwa,Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
 Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula, Deputy Governor for Administration, Bank of Zambia 2007 to
present.

Campuses for the University of Zambia
Its main campus—the Great East Road Campus—is on the Great East Road, about 7 km
from Lusaka City. It also has the Ridgeway Campus within Lusaka City located at the University
Teaching Hospital (famously called UTH); this campus specifically houses students pursuing
medical and other health program courses such as pharmaceutical, biomedical etc.

GREAT EAST ROAD CAMPUS
Slide showing the front and main entrance road leading into the Main Campus of the University
of Zambia (Great East Road Campus). This houses the administrative structures of the university
in addition to other training disciplines such as engineering, vet. Agric. Computer science,
education, law etc.
The Main University Campus is situated on the south side of the Great East Road about nine (9)
kilometres from the city centre in Lusaka. With an area of about 290 hectares, the campus is on a
fairly level site and much of the property has been brought into use for academic and residential
purposes. The following schools are located at this main campus; School of Education, School of
Law, School of Natural Sciences, School of Humanities and Social sciences, School of Engineering,
School of Mines, School of Agricultural Sciences and Samora Machel School of Veterinary
Medicine

THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
The University of Zambia is a leader in provision of higher education in the region, celebrated for
providing comprehensive and rigorous teaching-learning, research and scholarly programmes that
are responsive to needs of the individual, industry and society
THE MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
The University of Zambia is a centre of excellence in higher education for individuals, industry and
society through the provision of quality education, research and scholarly programmes for strategic
human resource development, in order to promote national and regional development, through
relevant and appropriate partnerships.
ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE
Location: Central Administration Block
Great East Road Campus, Lusaka
Postal Address: P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka
Telephones:
Vice-Chancellor +260-21-1-250871
Deputy Vice-Chancellor +260-21-1-254408
Registrar +260-21-1-251593
Bursar +260-21-1-254863
Academic Office +260-21-1-295220
Telegrams and Cables: UNZA Lusaka
Telex: UNZALU ZA 44370
Fax: +260-21-1-253952
E-mail: registrar@unza.zm

THE RIDGEWAY CAMPUS
Slide showing the front of the School of Medicine (Ridgeway Campus)
The Ridgeway Campus is situated near the University Teaching Hospital on John Mbita Road, and
is about nine hectares in extent. The Campus is about four kilometers from city centre in Lusaka
and about seven kilometers from the Great east road campus. The school of Medicine and its
relevant departments is located here.
It is stated that some thought had been given in the early 1950s to the establishment of a University
college in Lusaka mainly to serve the interest of the colonial presence in the country at the time, but
such proposals as there may have been were abandoned in 1953 with the creation of the Federation
of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and the related political decision to establish a University college in
Salisbury (now Harare). In other ways, the establishment of the same college as was envisaged in
early 1950s was more preferred to Southern Rhodesia in Salisbury than in Northern Rhodesia, In
Lusaka. Almost ten years were to pass before the question of a University for the then Northern
Rhodesia was formally re-opened. This was done by the government (immediate post-colonial
government) which came into power in December 1962, and which for the first time consisted of a
majority from the two nationalist parties, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) and the
African National Congress (ANC). In March 1963, this Government appointed a Commission
under the Chairmanship of Sir John Lockwood, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of
London, to advise on the development of a University. In its report, which was submitted in
November 1963, the Lockwood Commission unanimously recommended the establishment of a
University in Lusaka.

In January 1964, the Government signified that it accepted the recommendations of the Lockwood
Commission and within four months there was an inaugural meeting of the Provisional Council of
the University, the body charged with bringing the University into being.
In July 1964, the former Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, a research institute with an international
reputation for scholarly research and publications in the field of social anthropology dating back to
1938, came under the jurisdiction of the Provisional Council. In July 1965, Dr D.G. Anglin, of
Carleton University in Canada, was appointed as Vice-Chancellor. A month later, the Oppenheimer
College of Social Service was incorporated into the University at a time when extensive additions to
its premises in John Mbita Road, in the Ridgeway area of Lusaka, were already well under way.
In October 1965, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia gave his assent to Act
Number 66 of 1965, and its commencement on 12 November 1965 of the same year brought the
University of Zambia into legal existence.
Under a reconstituted Provisional Council, recruitment of staff had been proceeding a pace against
the deadline set for the first intake of students, namely 17 March 1966. On that day the first
academic session commenced at the Ridgeway Campus.
The President, Dr Kaunda was installed as Chancellor on 12 July 1966, in the presence of
representatives of more than fifty other universities and some two thousand guests. The following
day, The Chancellor laid the foundation stone for the University of Zambia on the Great East Road
Campus.
The University began with three Schools: Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Natural
Sciences - but as facilities developed and needs were recognised new Schools were added: Law
(1967), Engineering (1969), Medicine (1970), Agricultural Sciences (1971), Mines (1973),
Business and Industrial Studies (1978, at Ndola Campus), Environmental Studies (1981, at Ndola
Campus), and Veterinary Medicine (1983).
In its first academic year the University enrolled 312 students. The numbers rose to over 1 000 in
1970 and ten years later stood at over 4 000. It was envisaged that eventually the total enrolment
would level off at about 8 000 students. Current enrollment stands at 11500. Since such a number
could not be accommodated, academically or residentially at the main campus in Lusaka, it was
decided in 1975 that the University would be developed on a federal basis and that it would
comprise three constituent institutions, one at Lusaka, one at Ndola the third at Solwezi in the
North-Western Province. A new University of Zambia Act that came into operation in 1979
provided a definitive constitution for this federal structure. In anticipation of this development, and
in response to the need to provide University training in the fields of accountancy and business
administration, the University at Ndola opened in July 1978 with the establishment of a School of
Business and Industrial Studies. The new Constituent Institution of the University of Zambia was
accommodated at the Riverside Campus of the Zambia Institute of Technology in Kitwe, where
teaching and residential facilities were readily available. But it was intended that the stay in Kitwe
would be only temporary while physical planning, the mobilisation of resources and initial
construction process got under way at the permanent site that had been acquired in Ndola.

However, in 1987 the Act that ushered in a federal structure for the University was reviewed and
consequently it was decided to abolish the federal structure. Two Acts were passed establishing two
autonomous universities, namely the University of Zambia and the Copperbelt University.
Following the advent of the Third Republic in November 1991, Parliament passed the University
Act No. 26 of 1992 which introduced important changes in the governance of the University. The
1992 Act provided for a titular chancellor appointed by the President from amongst distinguished
persons nominated by the Minister of Education. Previously the President had been the Chancellor
of the two universities.
Mr. John M. Mwanakatwe SC, a distinguished educationist, lawyer and former politician, was
installed on 27th November 1992 as the first Chancellor of the University of Zambia under the act.
With the building of the School of Veterinary Medicine (1983) with the assistance of the Japanese
Government, some student hostels were built within the agreement.
In 1999, Parliament passed a new University ACT No. 11 of 1999, which provided for some major
changes in the governance of the University of Zambia. It was, for instance, vested the powers to
appoint the University Council in the Minister of Education. It also reduced the tenure of office to
the University Chancellor from Five to three years among other things.
THE VISION OF THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT UNZA
The School of Medicine is a leader in provision of health education in general and medical in
particular in the country, celebrated for providing comprehensive and excellence in health education
that is responsive to the needs of the individual, industry and society for the country and beyond
THE MISSION OF SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT UNZA
The School of Medicine is a centre of excellence in medical education for individuals, industry and
society through the provision of quality education, research and scholarly programmes for strategic
human resource development, in order to promote national and regional development, through
relevant and appropriate partnerships.
ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE
Postal Address: Conference and Extension Studies
P.O. Box 50516, Lusaka
University Architect
P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka
Telephones: Units, School of Medicine,
Dean and All Departments: +260-21-1-252641

EVELYN HONE COLLEGE OFAPPLIED ARTS
For 50 years, Evelyn Hone College (EHC) has been contributing greatly to the economic development of
Southern Africa quality training through provision of various training pathways to local and international
students.
The college has a unique record of having generated a crop of health trained personnel that has addressed the
needs of people in the country. It is the largest college unit after the renowned tertiary institutions such as
UNZA, CBU etc.
The college to date has generated thousands of graduates in various disciplines and pharmacy included.
EHC was established with a multi-purpose mandate including training pharmacy technologists for the health
sector in the country. A good number of the pharmaceutical personnel in the country have gone through this
training and others upgrading their EHC qualifications mainly from UNZA degree program have been and
are on the ground
Evelyn Hone College Main Campus Sites
Evelyn Hone College Pharmacy Students

University Teaching Hospital (UTH)
Multi-sectorial slide that shows different sites and activities at UTH
Introduction
The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka is the biggest referral hospital in Zambia. It is
located in the capital city Lusaka approximately 4Km east of the city centre. It was developed from
what was then referred to as Lusaka district hospital in 1966
Lusaka, the capital of Zambia had a population of approximately 1,084,703 by 2000 census
probably rising to over 2 million now.
Being centrally located, it is the hub of most of the political and socio-economic activities of the
country and it also serves as the focal transport route both for national and international travel.
About the Hospital
UTH is the principle health training institution in the country for health trainees such as Medical,
Pharmacy, Nursing, biomedical Students etc, corresponding Interns, and Postgraduate students in
various health disciplines. It also provides training for Nurses through the Nursing school located
within the hospital grounds as well as Clinical Officers through their college located at Chainama
Hills College Hospital. Recently, the hospital has accommodated students from affiliated colleges
for practical emancipation such as for the nurses, pharmacy technologists, physiotherapists with
diploma certificates, biomedical assistants etc.
UTH has approximately well over 1655 beds and 250 Baby cots. It provides a full range of primary,
secondary, and tertiary health and medical services on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.
In addition it serves as the country's specialist centre receiving referrals from all over the country.
Under adhoc arrangements, UTH also assess clinical cases that merit specialist treatment outside the
country such as South Africa, India, United Kingdom etc

Slide showing D-block wing for newly born babies with unusual pathological conditions at UTH

Slide showing main block of Maternity wing at UTH
The clinical departments at UTH include:
 Department of Anaesthesia
 Department of Internal Medicine
 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
 Department of Paediatric
 Department of Surgery
 Department of Community Medicine
 Department of Pathology
 Radiology Department
 Physiotherapy Department
 Pharmacy Department
 Blood Bank

Slide showing the reception of Emergency / Casualty at UTH
Slide showing surgical operation on a patient in one of the operating theatre rooms at UTH

Other Services in the Hospital include:
 School of Medicine Offices
 Medical Library
 Medical Illustrations
 School of Nursing – Ministry of Health
Contact Details
University Teaching Hospital
P.O Box 50001
Lusaka
Zambia
Emergency Tel: +260-211-254113
Other Numbers (+260 211) 251430 / 251455 / 251200 / 251477 / 253955
Elective at University Teaching Hospital
If you are interested in doing an elective at UTH, you will have to get in touch with the school of
medicine through the following contact details:
 Tel: +260-211-252641 ,
 Fax: +260-211-250753,
 P.O Box 50110, Lusaka, Zambia
 Email: Assistant Dean (general): assistdeangeneral@yahoo.com

The School of Medicine
Among many other social disciplines that were started at the university was the School of Medicine
mainly to train medical doctors that were critically required for our public health service facilities.
Slide showing the front of the School of Medicine (Ridgeway Campus)
This houses the administrative structures of pre-clinical programs for the school while the
clinical programs are on the University Teaching Hospital grounds.

Slide showing main academic block of the School of Medicine (Ridgeway Campus)
The School of Medicine was established as an independent School of the University of Zambia in
1970 as already alluded to. Pre-clinical teaching in Bachelor of science (Human Biology) and
Clinical teaching in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, however, had started earlier in
1968. The first output of graduates with full medical qualifications was in 1973.
Since then, the School has presented over 1200 medical doctors for the award of its joint degrees of
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
In 1981 it commenced postgraduate programmes leading to higher degrees in a number of clinical
areas. The Master of Medicine programme (MMed) is now offered in Surgery, Obstetrics and
Gynecology, Paediatrics and Child Health, Medicine, and Orthopaedic Surgery. A number of
similar programmes have been actively developed in other various field of medical training such as
Anaesthesia; Psychiatry; Pathology etc. A Master of Public Health programme with two tracts, one
for clinicians and the other for non-clinicians, has been also introduced at the school since the
1994/95 academic year.
In 2004 the school commenced postgraduate programmes in Master of Science in Nursing, Master
of Science in Parasitology and Post Graduate Diploma in Health Education for Health professionals.
Master of Urology, Neuroscience, pathology, etch have been developed also due to ratification for
commencement. Also the school offers PhD training programmes subject to the availability of a
suitable supervisors in different health training disciplines and appropriate research subject being

agreed upon in the department hosting the degree. In general PhDs are offered in all the
departments running masters degree programs.
The School also housed responsible for the higher level training and education in the following
degree Programmes:
a) Bachelor of Pharmacy
b) Bachelor of Science in Human Biology
c) Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy
d) Bachelor of Science in Nursing Sciences
e) Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences
f) Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science

THE DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY
Prior to the localized pharmacy degree training, all the pharmacists were trained from overseas
training institutions of different countries. Those that returned back to Zambia after training were
supported in their respective health service provisions by locally trained pharmacy technologists
dating back as early as 1970. The local degree training in pharmacy started in 2001. However, to
prepare the ground for initiation of this training started as early as 1999, by engaging an expert-led
team to design curriculum that was to be ratified through the official University of Zambia senate.
Obviously the effort of localizing medical training addressed the immediate needs of the country.
The other types of health professionals including pharmaceutical personnel at the time continued to
be sourced and trained from abroad, which in the long run proved to be very unreliable and
expensive venture. It proved unreliable mainly on its expected and effective output. For most, there
was a very limited or insignificant number of the trained people made available for national health
service per given time scale. Due to limited resources, very few were engaged to take up pharmacy
training from abroad. Secondly, out of that limited number, three quarters did not come back to
fulfill their sponsorship responsibilities either due to failing to complete the prescribed training
programs or follow their personal decision to remain to practice in their respective countries of
training. Many nationals at the time decided to follow the later pathway for fear of poor conditions
of service if they were to come back home.
Due to insignificant number of trained pharmaceutical personnel for the country, there was a
negative effect on the overall performance of the comprehensive National Health Service delivery
system for Zambia as a result of poor pharmaceutical care service delivery to the people. Some of
the service lines including pharmaceutical service became almost instinct or non - existing.
Accordingly, the first efforts at Drug Policy Development in Zambia, started just before the main
thrust of the Health Reforms - based mainly on global guidelines. However effective follow-up
action at the senior management level and political commitment had, till mid 1995, been lacking.
Consequently the main thrust of the Health Reforms emphasized other (equally pressing issues) and
seemingly underplayed drug issues.
Therefore, by the early 1995 it was becoming evident that the credibility and effectiveness of the
Health Reforms was at stake if drug issues were not addressed appropriately.
In 1997, the Zambian government realized the need to initiate and support a national program that
was to deliberately formulate policy guidelines in the development of improved health service lines
for the country. Accordingly, the political commitment to the development of a National Drug
Policy (NDP) was embodied in the signing of an agreement between MOH (Zambia) and
International Health Care & Research (IHCAR) (at Karolinska Institute) on Institutional
Collaboration for the Development of the Zambia National Drug Policy; with the financial support
from Sida. The human resource mobilization was thus made through that Institutional
Collaboration.
In 1998, through the ministry of health, the official government document was produced referred to
as “Zambian National Drug Policy, 1999”. The document set policy guidelines on a number of
health service elements and among many of these was human resource development.

This element of human resource development was set to affirm the government commitment
towards supporting the development of appropriately trained pharmaceutical personnel in adequate
number for the country’s pharmaceutical service delivery lines. It is from this angle that the
University of Zambia, through its School of Medicine, which is housed by the University Teaching
Hospital, offered to initiate the localized degree training certification of pharmacists in the country.
Slide showing the front of the University Teaching Hospital (2001)
Slide showing the front side of clinic 2 at the University Teaching Hospital and houses the
Department of Pharmacy for the School of Medicine (2001)

The slide that shows the inside of the administrative part the pharmacy department (2003)
The School of Medicine for the University of Zambia as already stated above, has operated from its
inception as a separate institutional campus that was mandated to train if not all the health workers
for the country. In the beginning, it was not possible to localize the training of all health
professional practitioners due to financial constraints. However, among others that are now trained
locally are medical doctors, pharmacists, graduate nurses, graduate physiotherapists, biomedical
scientists and environmental health scientists. While medical doctors and graduate nurses have been
trained relatively longer than the other professionals at this school, the rest have been initiated
recently including pharmacy. It is worth noting that while the doctors have been trained to actively
participate in the health service delivery to the Zambia people, nurses initially undertook graduate
studies for the purposes of providing tutorial services for the nursing colleges that are dotted around
the country. It is also very recent that graduate nurses are being considered for health service
delivery strategies in the country
However, the reasoning to localize the training of pharmacists was primarily based on the critical
understaffing of appropriate pharmaceutical personnel both in the private and public health sector.
As earlier stated, there was a political will behind the initiation of local graduate pharmacy
education through such government initiatives as the National Drug Policy of 1998 that stated ‘as a
matter of urgency the government shall actively support the development of a pharmacy
programme at university level in order to increase the output of suitably trained pharmacists’.
This with the training policy by the University of Zambia for development of other health
professionals in addition to the already existing medical degree education, it was found very
necessary and national desire to urgently develop and initiate degree program training pharmacy at
the university of Zambia.
At the time, in line with the university regulations, pharmacy degree training was to be initiated in
the interim under the appropriate established training unit of the university and the School of
Medicine and specifically under the Physiological Sciences was found to be the most suitable
ground for its initiation. The program was started in 2001, after the appropriate curriculum was
formulated in 1999 that was presented for ratification through the University of Zambia Senate
system in 2000.

Still as a unit, the pharmacy program was designed to run on a 5 years training pathway starting
from the Main Campus, from the School of Natural Sciences. The program was also designed to get
students’ recruitment from Evelyn Hone College, from the diploma certificate pathways into the 3rd
year of the degree program at school of medicine. Furthermore, as part of program initiation
reasoning, it was designed to run under the founding head for an interim period after which certain
improvements should have been undertaken such as phase II activities (maturing the department
into a school).
Furthermore, it was expected to add value to the general management of HIV / AIDS by generating
appropriately trained personnel that were to be effective in a health team for national remedial
initiatives such as provision of ARVs, Rational Drug Use, Medication and treatment counseling,
proper storage of drugs both at ARV centers and pharmacies in general.
To impart the clinical knowledge to students of pharmacy, while maintaining the details of science
in pharmacy at the level of pre-clinical studies in pharmacy, there was a deliberate emphasis placed
at the clinical application of this knowledge so as to crystallize out the clinical aspect of pharmacy
(pharmaceutical care). The scientific base of pharmacy training by arrangements has been re-
enforced through the teaching of basic science courses in the first two of total four years at
Ridgeway campus, meant to provide or impart competencies in graduates in terms of chemical
identifications, chemical substance utilization and compounding. Later, the trainee students
concluded the training by going through the last two years, referred to as clinical years, meant to
provided or impact competencies in graduates in terms of clinical utilization of identified drug
entities..
In its first academic year pharmacy training programme at the School of Pharmacy enrolled 27
direct entry students with diploma in pharmacy as an entry qualification into the third year while 26
were recruited through the main pathway from the School of Natural Sciences. In subsequent years,
these numbers have increased to 40 from the School of Natural Sciences due to popular demand for
students School of Natural Sciences to take up pharmacy training at the School of Medicine. Due to
limited capacity of 50 students in each stream year of pharmacy training, the balance of 10 students
for direct entry resulted into inadequacy for direct-entry student applicants. In 2010, departmental
based program was initiated that created parallel training program mainly for the direct entry
students, raising the direct entry slots from 10 to 50 per year. As a result of this development within
the department, the average number of pharmacy students per stream starting from 3rd
year
averaged 90 by the year 2013. The total average number of students studying pharmacy each year at
the School of Medicine is estimated over 300 while an average of 90 students per year have been
graduating as trained pharmacists since 2014.
Since 2004, when there was the first graduating group of students (10 students) from the new
localized pharmacy degree program, there was a steady yearly increase (an average of 35 students
per year) graduating with BPharm degree certificates in five years that followed up to 2009 as
presented in table 1. It can also be confirmed that most if not all of the graduates from this program
have been employed by the Ministry of Health at least the first year of their employment as a matter
of both professional public service requirement.

However, the initial stages of local training in pharmacy at UNZA would not have been exempted
from operational challenges and difficulties. These challenges presented themselves in form of
inadequate physical and purpose-built infrastructures, limited operational facilities and
inappropriate number of human resource.
These indeed, provided practical challenges in the first five years of the local pharmacists training at
the institution. To alleviate some of the challenges, the program went into academic collaboration
with locally available staff on part-time engagement, Egyptian health training institutions that made
some of their respective academic staff be attached to the department during the sponsored
sabbatical leave scheme by the Egyptian government (2002 – 2010). On infrastructure
requirements, UNZA central administration, through the school of medicine leadership, identified
and allocated some of the prefabricated structures that existed at the Ridgeway campus grounds
while the first departmental office for the pharmacy training program was located at UTH premises
(Clinic 2 block). There was also sponsored academic collaboration with some of the United
Kingdom-based universities so as to nature the new training program with the appropriate training
framework (sponsored by DFID through the British Embassy for Zambia)
The other aspect was of the difficulties faced during the first phase in terms of disharmony at the
school of medicine. A good number of the existing academic staff members were not of the idea to
be in co-existence with other health training programs and pharmacy included at the school of
medicine. To this effect, vital academic resource was not available for pharmacy training and that
presented some technical difficulties in some aspects of formal pharmacy training courses. Some
aspects of these difficulties were solved by earlier stated solutions, that is, engagement of assessed
part-time lecturers, on sabbatical leave academic foreign staff, received some of the students’
learning materials through collaborated academic arrangements. The other difficulty was the limited
capacity to recruit students into the program. This was resolved through the running of parallel
program so as to create an entry point for those that were recruited into the program from the
service line (direct entry). With the introduction of the parallel program for pharmacy, appropriate
existing or employed academic staff at UNZA and School of Medicine included, became accessible
for pharmacy students’ learning.

Programme of Study for Bachelor of Pharmacy degree
Duration of Programme
The programme has been planned to take to take:
I. Four years at the school of Medicine for those students from the main stream Campus
(School of Natural Sciences).
II. Three years at the School of Medicine for those students coming from the health service
facilities with diploma certificates in Pharmacy technology
III. Four years at the School of Medicine for those students with relevant qualifying documents(
degree certificates from health-related fields,
'A' Level certificates).
IV. The programme will be full-time for all the enrolled and registered students
Programme Structure
The overall aim of the programme is to provide a sound education and training: both theoretical and
practical in the pharmaceutical sciences (chemistry, anatomy and physiology, pharmaceutics,
biochemistry, pharmacy practice so that the graduates should not only have up-to-date knowledge
of the subjects, but have adequate background and acquire skills that will enable them serve the
patients effectively and sustain the development of pharmacy in Zambia. The programme has been
designed to reflect the patient-oriented nature of the profession with in-depth of science
background.
Career Opportunities
The profession of pharmacy encompasses a wide range of opportunities. Therefore, the design of
the training curriculum for UNZA is based on those opportunities within the profession. There are
a wide variety of subjects that are taught and offer graduating students a wide range of career
options to choose from, such as in hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, industrial pharmacy,
pharmacy management, food industries, pharmaceutical research and administration, pharmacy
business, forensic pharmacy, pharmaceutical regulatory authorities and many more. In addition
capable and willing graduates will proceed to higher degrees in pharmacy to become academicians
or specialists. Pharmacy is a noble profession and in various settings offer rewarding and
challenging career prospects.
Currently, graduate study program has been undertaken to provide postgraduate qualifications for
pharmacists to the level of doctors of pharmacy. This is because the program has been designed to
produce clinical pharmacists at the end of training.

Slide showing a group of pharmacy students at one of the pharmaceutical technology
demonstrating sites (2007)
Slide showing a student of pharmacy operating or monitoring the tablet press cycles at one of the
pharmaceutical technology demonstrating sites (2008)

Slides showing a group of pharmacy students in an examination hall (2005)

Growth in size and stature
During the last six (6) years from 2010, the department of pharmacy existence has tended to grow
positively in size and stature while negatively in quality of product output. Currently, the
department houses well over 300 students on average for all the four streams of pharmacy program
years and graduating an average of 70 trained pharmacists per year. This huge number is also
compounded by private institutions that have also started to graduate pharmacists onto the Zambian
health services. The department from its inception to date was meant to graduate on average 50
students per year and has graduated more than 500 pharmacist practitioners to date. This number
may be doubled for the next 5 years if the rate of pharmacists’ graduation does not reduce. While
the quantitative term of pharmacists training has been addressed, the aspect of quality has not been
assured. The learning materials and the process is still on trial basis without consolidating a national
training model that should be factored into global standard framework. However, to address some
aspect of this concern, the department developed a postgraduate program in the clinical pharmacy
that was approved by the graduate studies committee in 2010. To date, the graduate program has
formally trained and graduated a total number of seventeen (17) clinical pharmacists. The core
objective of this program is to accord each practicing pharmacist formal knowledge of clinical
pharmacy for the purpose of providing appropriate pharmaceutical care to the patients. While this
approach to pharmacy training is in line with global health training, it is not well articulated on the
national health market.
SUMMARY OF PHARMACY PROGRAMME TRAINING OUTPUT SINCE 2001 TO 2016
YEAR GRADUATES
WITH BPHARM
COMMENNTS
2001 No graduates 1st
year of starting the two streams – 2nd
and 3rd
Year streams
2002 No graduates 2nd
year running of earlier two streams – 2nd
and 3rd
Year streams recruitment
2003 No graduates 3rd
year running of earlier two streams – 2nd
and 3rd
2004 10 graduates 4th
year running of earlier 2nd
year stream – 2nd
and 3rd
year running of the program as a full circle – 2nd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
as parallel stream recruitment
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd
and 3rd

MoH collaboration in Pharmacy Training
The MoH has continued to collaborate with UNZA in a number of ways including providing the
clinical ground for experiential learning with patients, clinical trainings fields of specialist learning,
ground for internship training that is funded etc. The Department of Pharmacy training program was
in essence developed on the UTH grounds as earlier stated. The clinical component of pharmacy
training takes a good chunk of students’ training as a way of applying the pre-clinical sessions
(basic sciences) in pharmacy training. Some of the academic staff are engaged on honorary basis at
hospital practicing sites including pharmacists that provide clinical tutorial support to
undergraduates. The clinical components of this curriculum, taught to all 4th
and 5th
year students,
are a distinguishing feature of other comparable BPharm degree programs. In addition to tutorial
sessions for the students of pharmacy, most, if not all the engaged tutors are also involved in
clinical demonstrations at the hospital, community / retail and other related fields of pharmacy
practice
Training Facilities
Up until now, the Department of Pharmacy at the School of Medicine is being housed in Clinic 2
Block at UTH for administration of the department. The program has been delivered to the students
under four main training course themes (groups) and each covering appropriate number of
course/subject titles as follows:
1. Sources and Chemistry of Drugs (SCD) – Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Biochemistry,
Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
2. Compounding Basis of Drugs (CBD) – General Pharmaceutics, Radiopharmaceutics,
Biopharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Technology and Systems, Research & Biostatistics
3. Scientific Basis of Therapeutics (SBT) - Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmaceutical Microbiology
(Virology; Bacteriology; Parasitology; Mycology; Immunology), Pharmacology, Clinical
Pharmacy
4. Practical Basis of Pharmacy (PBP) – Forensic Pharmacy, Pharmacy Law & Ethics, Hospital
Pharmacy, Community Pharmacy, Industrial Pharmacy, Veterinary Pharmacy,
Pharmacoeconomics
The delivery of the course themes as stated above was initiated and has continued to be undertaken
through two stages: Pre-clinical and Clinical Years of training. At pre-clinical stage, each of the
course theme, of scientific components is being taught while the clinical stage handles clinical
components of each corresponding theme.
In the interim, pharmacy training was designed to be taught under the established and appropriate
existing facilities at the University of Zambia in general and this arrangement has continued to exist
to date. The facilities that were identified at the time were based at the following training sites of
UNZA:

1. Department of Chemistry at School of Natural Sciences – Science components of SCD
2. Department of Anatomy at School of Medicine – Anatomy of SBT
3. Department of Physiological Sciences at School of Medicine – Physiology of SBT
4. Department of Microbiology & Pathology at School of Medicine – Pharmaceutical
Microbiology of SBT
5. Pharco Production Unit at Medical Stores Limited – Pharmaceutical Technology & Systems
6. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Unit at Pharmanova - Pharmaceutical Technology &
Systems
7. Clinical Departments at UTH - Clinical components of each theme
8. Department of Pharmacy at UNZA – Core courses and Clinical components of each theme
- Various laboratory sessions are currently being done at UNZA Ridgeway sited laboratories,
Food & Drugs laboratory facilities for MOH, Laboratory facilities for Geological Survey
department
- Pharmaceutical Technology sessions are being undertaken at identified pharmaceutical
companies mainly for skills demonstration procedures (only at Pharmanova).
- Dispensing process has been actualized and as such, the clinical students participate in the
actual dispensing of medicines to the actual patients at both UTH main pharmacy and the
satellite clinics and pharmacies at UTH clinical blocks.
- The clinical teaching sessions are undertaken within UTH grounds at both the main and some of
the satellite lecture theatres while the pre-clinical sessions are done at the Ridgeway Campus
grounds.

Departmental Organization and Teaching Staff Requirements
1 Departmental Head
There is one head of the department to head four main units:
Compounding Basis of Drugs / Scientific Basis of Therapeutics / Sources and Chemistry of
Drugs / Practical Basis of Pharmacy
Each of these units are to be headed by one unit leader and taught through main course sections
as listed below:
2 Sources and Chemistry of Drugs (SCD) – Unit Head
 Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Three lecturers
 Biochemistry - Three lecturers
 Medicinal Chemistry - Three lecturers
 Pharmacognosy - Three lecturers
3 Compounding Basis of Drugs (CBD) – Unit Head
 General Pharmaceutics - Two lecturers
 Radiopharmaceutics - Two lecturers
 Biopharmaceutics - Two lecturers
 Pharmaceutical Technology and Systems - Four lecturers
 Research & Biostatistics - Two lecturers
4 Scientific Basis of Therapeutics (SBT) – Unit Head
 Anatomy - Two lecturers
 Physiology - Two lecturers
 Pharmaceutical Microbiology - Four lecturers
 Pharmacology - Three lecturers
 Clinical Pharmacy - Three lecturers
5 Practical Basis of Pharmacy (PBP) – Unit Head
 Pharmacy Profession - One lecturer
 Forensic Pharmacy - One lecturer
 Pharmacy Law & Ethics - Two lecturers
 Hospital Pharmacy - Four lecturer
 Community Pharmacy - Three lecturer
 Industrial Pharmacy - Two lecturer
 Veterinary Pharmacy - One lecturer
 Pharmacoeconomics - One lecturer

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS:
Based on the challenges and difficulties that have been experienced over the years the program has
been running, the following SWOT analysis has been designed and followed to highlight some
areas of strength and weakness for future positive progress for the program. Also to help the
localized training program to position itself for the global changing trends for future requirements in
pharmaceutical personnel training.
SWOT Analysis:
The table below shows the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats identified and what
these may mean to the intended growth of the department.
STRENGTHS
STRENGTHS STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS
Established department with specified program of training at
UNZA through SoM
- Potential and easy identification, mobilization and appropriate
utilization of resources and great deal of trust with partners in
research, training and practice
Available expertise in different fields of pharmacy for
pharmacy training.
- Were able to initiate new courses to any level of pharmacy
training and thus remain competitive with other emerging similar
program both locally and globally.
Strong support from UNZA Central administration
- Continue to align programmes to UNZA strategic plan and
National Health SP in the production of pharmaceutical
personnel in all aspects of pharmaceutical care delivery
strategies.
Available government commitment through the Ministry of
health’s National Drug Policy document – NDP (1998).
- Continued alignment to the NDP document which has identified
appropriate training orientation of basic and specialist
pharmaceutical personnel for the ministry is very cardinal.
- The department has a unique functional role to produce such
personnel for the ministry.
Professional recognition by appropriate national bodies of
pharmacy for Zambia (Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia)
and Health professions Council (HPCZ) for professional
registration.
- This is critical as these bodies ratify the authenticity of qualified
and practicing pharmaceutical personnel for the country and
beyond through strategies such as internship training of trained
pharmaceutical graduates.
Professional recognition by appropriate intertnational bodies
of pharmacy for the region and global (International
Federation for Pharmacists – FIP, African Centre of
Excellence in Pharmacy Education – ACExP, UNESCO and
WHO through FIP collaboration, etc) for global harmony in
pharmaceutical education and practice.
- This is critical as these bodies are designing and encouraging
global harmonization in pharmaceutical education and practice.
- Such strategies enhances uniformity of global training outcomes
in pharmacy training as well as global harmonization in practice
Co-existence of health professional trainees at the school.
- Though may have been viewed negatively by few health trainers
specifically at the School of Medicine, this has been a strength as
a building block to strengthen comprehensive team work for end-
users benefits during the clinical application of learned
knowledge.
- Interactive communication among the health workers on patients
has been improved unlike in the past.

Available stakeholder partnerships
- Both locally and abroad, such relationship for pharmacy training
at UNZA has and continues to exist.
- The training program does not exist in isolation. It is part of
global family in terms of formal orientation of pharmaceutical
work personnel.
Viability of the training program
- This is evidenced by situational analysis and policy direction
adopted by the government in the 1990s to domesticate and
consolidate the training of pharmaceutical professionals for the
country.
- The viability of the program to this time is not questionable.
Almost all the graduates from the program have been absorbed
into both public and private health service from internship to
permanent engagement.
- Unlike in the past when pharmaceutical care provision was
central based, the number of qualified pharmacists in the country
can effectively participate in the decentralization of
pharmaceutical care provision to all the parts of the country
Course structure and mode of implementation.
- Course contents of pharmacy training and the way such course
have been structured and implemented have internally been
acknowledged to be of international standards (regarded as a
regional model program to train present-day pharmacists.
Network and linkages with regional and global institutions
- Leverage to acquire resources for improvement of training,
research and diagnostic services has existed from the beginning
and has continued to this point (DFID, FIP, RGU, Samford
University, UNC etc)
WEAKNESSES
WEAKNESSES STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS
Dependence on GRZ grant to run training programmes at
government institutions like UNZA
- Inadequate GRZ grant levels results in limited success against
set targets - resulting into very slow pace of program
development as earlier anticipated.
- Government grants are more dependent on political structures
and direction such that any less emphasis on grants provision
directly affects the strategical development of such programs as
pharmacy training in the country
Inadequate number of appropriately teaching staff and
operational process.
- This is with reference to the recommended staffing levels for the
department. This may have compromised the quality of training,
research and diagnostic service available
- The situation may have led to desperate need for such personnel
resulting in the engagement of academic personnel that bear less
or not at all required qualifications to take up such
responsibilities.
- This may be very evident in private-based training institutes
where the engagement was money motivated as opposed to
quality motivation
Inadequate infra-structure facilities, equipment for training,
research equipment and diagnosis
- This also could have compromised quality of training, research
and diagnosis available
- This challenge was compounded by the leadership qualities and
desires at the host school for UNZA.

- The change of school’s leadership brought destructive change to
the infra-structure as identified and initiated by the earlier
leadership as witnessed from in-coming deanship of 2012 at the
School of Medicine.
- This deanship change brought desperation and temporal
stoppage on the progressive development of pharmacy training
at UNZA for the country
Interim arrangements at the school
- Being a temporal arrangements enroute to permanent
arrangements brought static development in pharmacy training
process at UNZA.
- The developmental plans for localized pharmacy training were
not emphasized.
- Overall, this has tended to retard developmental desire for the
pharmacy training in the country
Negative feelings about the new training programs that are
currently quite eminent at the school
- As earlier indicated, such feelings have exhibited natural
negative effects on the expected output of the training programs
including pharmacy at the school
Administrative structure at the School that has continued to
operate on interim basis arrangements
- limited aspirations to develop individual health professional
programs for the university, resulting in the suppression of newly
upcoming health training programs
Stream-alignment of pharmacists training among other
health workers training is absent
- This is promoting unspecified pathway for pharmacists training
output
- This could be due to unavailability of appropriately oriented
academic personnel to take up teaching responsibilities as
required in pharmacy training.
OPPRTUNITIES
OPPRTUNITIES STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS
Strong partnerships at the regional and global level
- Enhance mobilization of resources to meet emerging needs in
modern pharmacy training process.
- Through the regional and global block collaboration, exchange
of pharmaceutical education and practice process and general
academic communication (teaching materials etc) have
continued to exist and flow such as African Centre of Excellence
in Pharmacy Education.
Established SoM
- This establishment provided a learning platform to have initiated
a very successful new health training program at UNZA.
- By learning from past experiences with the School of Medicine
establishment, enabled the pharmacy training program aim to
start on a solid foundation for reliable and quality output.
Increased demand for graduate pharmaceutical personnel
- This has been exhibited in the number of applicants desiring to
take up pharmacy training at UNZA has continuously been
scaling up.
- This has direct effect on the trained and recruited number of
pharmaceutical graduates from UNZA into both public and
private practice

Appropriateness of the graduates
- This is reflected on the manner and methodology adopted to train
pharmaceutical personnel in the country and for the country’s
pharmaceutical service delivery strategies.
- The training model as employed locally has also received
approval from the international professional bodies observers
such as FIP
Lack of variety of postgraduate training programmes on
offer in Pharmacy.
- Presently, only one line of postgraduate has been established
mainly to provide the pharmacist graduates learning ground for
advanced knowledge in clinical applications of pharmaceutical
knowledge.
- However, initiation of new postgraduate programme is an
opportunity for the department to grow in stature and also to
strengthen staff development programme in the department for
development of quality teachers and equip specialist personnel
for public pharmaceutical care health services
Co-existence of most health professional training programs
(Medicare, Nursing care, Pharmaceutical care, laboratory
etc)
- Basis to build strong health team workers to comprehensively
meet the needs of patients.
THREATS
THREATS STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS
Inadequate funding for training, research and diagnosis
- Offer new short courses for in service personnel as basis for
income generation in the department to finance gaps
- Such challenges incite or encourage unwarranted initiatives that
are merely designed for self-reliance than quality-based
initiatives
Emergency of unauthorized pharmaceutical training
institutions.
- This is so especially if the bodies that are perceived as regulators
are in support of such developments.
- Regular checks on the number of authorized institutions by
appropriate bodies are cardinal to maintain the professional
principles of pharmaceutical care for the country.
- Such developments encourage unwarranted initiatives that are
merely designed for self-reliance than quality-based initiatives.
- The engagement of human resource into such establishments is
not transparency as for public institutions, hence a very high
chances of quality compromise in terms of qualifications
requirements
Limited availability of work opportunities in the public
sector and University of Zambia included.
- Timely review of conditions of service for academic staff and
health sector in general is cardinal to enhance competitiveness
and discourage complacency
- General academic progress appraisal system at government
tertiary systems is poorly managed to disadvantage and
discourage well meaning members engaged with such training
systems and UNZA is not exempted.
- It is possible to score very high in terms of academic progress at
UNZA and yet not noticed.

Conclusions
Stakeholder Analysis:
The stakeholders play a crucial role in strategic plan implementation by providing support in form
of funding and technical assistance, marketing and even good will. The following were identified
and have continued to play a pivot role as stakeholders for the department of pharmacy at the
University of Zambia: GRZ (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Technical &
Vocational training, University Teaching Hospital, etc) UNZA (Vice-chancellor, Deputy Vice
Registrar etc), Dean’s Office (Undergraduate and Graduate training), Regulatory Professional
Bodies (Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia - PSZ, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority - PRA,
Health Professions Council of Zambia - HPCZ), Professional and Academic Stakeholder
Affiliates (FIP, CPA, Regional training institution such as Malawi college of Medicine, Makerere
University, Watersrand – SA, Overseas institutions such as Robert Gordon – UK, Samford – USA,
UNC – USA etc):
 GRZ: This group of stakeholders has the obligation as per University of Zambia institution in
form of employment and allocation of funds as appropriately budgeted by the government and
timely disbursed to the institution for its obligatory operations. This is the major source of
funding for the department.
 UNZA: This group of stakeholders has the obligation as per University of Zambia institution in
form of employment and disbursement of financial grants as approved by the government for
the operations of the individual university functional units. This is the major route of all monies
for university functional units.
 Regulatory Professional Bodies: This group of stakeholders is available for a variety of
support that includes technical, professional, financial and sometimes even academic in nature.
The Department Pharmacy as a single unit of UNZA is affiliated to national bodies such PRA,
PSZ (HPAZ), Medical Stores of Zambia and international bodies such as FIP etc.
 Professional and Academic Stakeholder Affiliates: This group of stakeholders is also
available for a variety of support that includes technical, professional, financial and sometimes
even academic in nature. Through affiliations with CPA, they have continued to supply reading
- This is because the appraisal system is subjective rather
objective, creating room for subjective manipulation by either
individuals or through established channels of duty
responsibilities
Political partnership
- Operate as partners with GRZ and UNZA central administration
by aligning as much as possible to UNZA and National Health
SPs priorities.
- This may have negative effect if over emphasized
Academic authenticity of health training process and
facilities at UTH undefined
- This has posed uncertainties and a lot of assumptions as to ‘who
is who’ at the school

materials such as BNFs and coordinate lecture materials from other sister training institutions
such as Robert Gordon etc.
Strategic options
 Move on from point of temporal to permanent position in training pharmaceutical professionals
locally at Ridgeway Campus under the University of Zambia
 Renovation of old building structures or construction of new structures at both Ridgeway
identified sites to train pharmaceutical personnel
 Strengthen pharmacy training program for its teaching technical staff membership by
implementing various postgraduate specialist training in respective disciplines.
 Identify and implement short courses in the department in order to improve knowledge skills in
the profession and health services area of pharmacy.
 Lobbying for funding to establish the appropriate learning environment in terms the laboratory
equipment, lecturing space and arrangement, employing adequate number of qualified academic
and other support staff for the department etc in order to strengthen and enhance undergraduate
and graduate training, research and diagnostic services for the department.
 Establish a monitoring and evaluation unit in the department to measure impact of programmes
and individual contributions with regard to academic progression of individual academic
contributions
Strategic direction:
Taking into account the SWOT analysis and the strategic options that have been identified and
stated as above, the pharmacy training program is described in logistical ways its operational
objectives may be achieved as expected for the future of the profession in line with global standards
set by world health organizations such as WHO.
The overall aim of the locally established training pathway for pharmaceutical personnel was to
offer quality and appropriate training at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in knowledge
acquisition, research and diagnostic clinical services for pharmaceutical procedure in various
operational fields of pharmacy and make such as closely associated to the people’s needs as
possible.
References:
1. National Drug Policy, 1999
2. Strategic Plan (2015 – 2017) UNZA
3. National Health Strategic Plan (2011 – 2015) Ministry of Health, Zambia
4. National Education Strategic Plan (Planipolis-UNESCO) Ministry of Education, Zambia

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