Sociocultural dimensions of research on public health roles for community pharmacists in tuberculosis disease control in a developing country

Developing countries often have healthcare system fragmentation because of either limited administrative healthcare organization or partial engagement of healthcare team members operating in private operations. Community pharmacies (also known as retail pharmacies) remain one of the most accessible venues for initial health-seeking for infectious diseases by populations living in these countries. Although community pharmacies are well established for the sale and dispensing of medications prescribed for infectious diseases to patients, their roles in infectious disease prevention, health promotion, and active/passive case detection have not been well elaborated. In fact, community pharmacies' engagement in public health roles is largely limited by the sociocultural barriers and challenges prevailing in these countries. In an attempt to address the aforementioned barriers, this study builds upon a large-scale national implementation (case-detection) trial conducted in a developing nation (such as Pakistan) with a high burden of Tuberculosis disease and provides a way forward for designing and scaling-up similar interventions for Tuberculosis control in the Pakistani healthcare system through public health pharmacy services.