Summary of Themes and Subthemes From Stakeholder Interviews, by Main Category, Lusaka, Zambia, 2022
| Category | Themes | Subthemes |
|---|---|---|
| Challenges in the pharmaceutical supply chain | Affordability of medicines | Medicines are expensive |
| Stockouts of medicines | ||
| Monopolies are barriers to access | ||
| Poor transportation | ||
| Presence of poor-quality medicines | ||
| Regulatory challenges | Practice and regulation mismatch | |
| Regulation impacts access and affordability | ||
| Rigid licensing guidelines | ||
| Availability of medicines | ||
| Slow regulatory process | ||
| Potential benefits of the innovative pharmacy approach | Improved availability of products | Fast track product registration |
| Improved access and distribution | ||
| Improved economy | ||
| Improved procurement efficiency | ||
| Improve supply chain bottlenecks | ||
| Improved quality assurance | Authentication of products | |
| Improved monitoring of products | ||
| Improved traceability | Improved track and trace | |
| Limitations and shortcomings to the innovative pharmacy approach | Behavioral challenges | Lack of awareness |
| People are slow to change | ||
| Reluctant acceptance of technology | ||
| Resistance to change | ||
| Financial challenges | High cost of innovation | |
| Lack of financial support | ||
| Lack of government interest | Lack of involvement by the Ministry of Health | |
| No government support | ||
| Quality assurance challenges | Lack of authentication technologies | |
| Regulatory challenges | Lack of specific regulations | |
| Rigid pharmaceutical regulations | ||
| Technical challenges | Electricity and internet as barriers | |
| Innovation is not inclusive | ||
| Last point delivery confusion | ||
| Lead time challenges | ||
| Recommendations for improvement | Digitization | Digitize patient records |
| Increased digitization of the country | ||
| Education | Increased training for regulators | |
| Increased awareness | ||
| Government lead | Introduce more technology | |
| Investment into technology | ||
| Quality assurance | Leverage technology | |
| Need innovation for authentication | ||
| Regulation | Need for a new regulatory framework | |
| Need for localized regulations | ||
| Need for regulation to enforce medicine quality | ||
| Research |