Emerging Pattern in Utilizing Electronic Information Sources by Pharmacy Lecturers in Five Universities in Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis.

This is a detailed comparative analysis of electronic information sources (EIS) utilized by pharmacy lecturers in South-South universities in Nigeria. The purpose of this study is to analyze the extent to which EIS are utilized among pharmacy lecturers in South-South Nigeria. The aim is to explore the emerging pattern of utilizing EIS and to identify critical factors influencing effective usage of EIS in order to assist the universities in planning and managing EIS for the benefit of faculty members. Survey research method was adopted in this study. The questionnaire was the instrument used to collect data by simple random sampling of pharmacists in the various universities. All the different categories of pharmacy lecturers were randomly selected for this study. Emerging pattern of EIS utilization indicates that majority of pharmacy lecturers rate EIS very  important and, their level of usage was high and they use EIS daily. They use diverse EIS especially WWW to perform different tasks of teaching and research. Chi square statistics indicates that there is no significant difference in most of the variables tested. However, academic qualification influenced the task performed by the lecturers and task performed influenced the utilization of EIS

Availability and Affordability of Antiglaucoma Drugs in Benin City, Nigeria

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness. Affordability and availability are key factors that determine access to effective treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate the availability and affordability of antiglaucoma medicines in Benin City. A cross sectional survey of the major drug distribution sectors was conducted. The strength, unit pack, brand name and lowest priced generics (LPG) were recorded. Physical sighting of product was done to confirm availability in any facility. Data collected were sorted and analyzed using WakAfford1.0. (A Medicine Affordability Calculator) that we developed for this study, based on USD103 (NGN17, 000) minimum wage per month for the least paid government worker. Graph pad Instat was used for inferential analysis. The branded or innovator products in private pharmacies had 47.22% availability, followed by private clinics 38% and lastly the public hospitals 25%, while the generic medicines had 25% availability in private pharmacies, 22.22% in clinics and 19.44% in public hospitals. The most affordable branded product in private pharmacies is acetazolamide tablets (0.16 ± 0.02 days) and timolol 0.5% eye drop (0.59 ± 0.04 days), while the most unaffordable product is Combigan (12.71 ± 0.17 days). The public hospital had same trend, the least affordable medicine being Diamox and most unaffordable was Xalacomb. However, timolol 0.25% was the most affordable in private clinics while Xalacomb was the most unaffordable. The availability of antiglaucoma drugs in Benin City is suboptimal and some are unaffordable across the different sectors. Government and donor agencies should subsidize and make them accessible to patients. Keywords: Availability, Affordability, Antiglaucom