Access to community pharmacy services for people with disabilities : barriers, challenges, and opportunities

Jairoun, Ammar Abdulrahman and Al-Hemyari, Sabaa Saleh and Shahwan, Moyad and Godman, Brian and El-Dahiyat, Faris and Kurdi, Amanj and Zyoud, Samer H (2022) Access to community pharmacy services for people with disabilities : barriers, challenges, and opportunities. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 18 (5). pp. 2711-2713. ISSN 1551-7411 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2022.01.009)

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Abstract

Health care is a basic human right; however, people with disabilities continue to encounter barriers that prevent them from accessing the care they need.1 The negative features of the relationship between a patient with a health condition and their contextual circumstances (personal and environmental variables) are referred to as disability. Disability is an overarching word encompassing difficulties such as activity limits and participation restrictions.2 Recent research revealed that a billion individuals (15% of the world population) are believed to live with disabilities. Between 110 (2.2%) and 190 million (3.8%) of these people have substantial difficulty in functioning.2 People with disabilities experience varying access to health care in different nations and societies across the world.3 They encounter impediments to health-care access, especially in poor and middle-income nations, which widen the gap in access for people with disabilities between the developing and developed world.4 According to studies, health disparities occur as a result of disability, including unmet clinical requirements, a lack of emphasis on health promotion, and insufficient access to quality health care and preventative services.5 According to a survey of persons with major mental problems, 35 to 50% of people in industrialized nations and 76 to 85% of those in developing countries received no mental health-care intervention in the year preceding the research.2 Inadequate policies and standards, unfavorable attitudes, a lack of service supply, insufficient money, and inadequate access and communication were the key impediments to health-care access.2 Institutions that provide health-care services should be easily accessible to anyone in need of such services. Because of their longer hours, accessibility, price, and lack of requirement for an appointment, community pharmacists are often the first point of contact for most people seeking health-care assistance.6,7 As a result, pharmacies represent an important source of primary health care. However, despite some encouraging advancements, community pharmacies are still not accessible to disabled people. As a result, recognizing the barriers to access to community pharmacy services faced by people with disabilities is critical and will help to enhance health-care provision in the future.

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