ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Community Pharmacists as cardinal health care professionals, plays a major role in the control and management of diseases and ailments. Community pharmacies being one of the most proximal, easily assessable and widely distributed health clinics to the population, hence, their involvement in the practice and promotion of public health cannot be overemphasized. The aim of his survey is therefore to evaluate the level of involvement of community Pharmacists in the practice of public health, as well as assess the perceived barriers to the practice of public health.
METHOD: A cross-sectional survey carried out using a 32-item stem questionnaire administered to 120 Community pharmacists within Benin city, Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 21 to obtain appropriate descriptive statistics, while Independent statistical T-test was used to determine significant differences among the study variables.
RESULTS: The participants are marginally involved in the practice of public health with their scores for the indicated activities being above our estimated 65% benchmark, except for the screening; for Dyslipidemia, and risk of suicide with lower performances of 61.54% and 50% respectively. The study revealed that the participants with greater than five (5) years’ experience are generally more involved the practice of public health services with statistical significance at p<0.05.
CONCLUSION: Community pharmacists in Benin city are generally very involved in public health services, but have slightly lower involvement in screening for dyslipidemia and very low involvement in screening for risk of suicide.
