The Zambia National Drug Policy of 1998 stated that ‘as a matter of urgency the government shall actively support the development of a Pharmacy Programme at University level in order to increase the output of suitably trained pharmacists’. In response to this mandate, the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree programme was established at the University of Zambia, School of Medicine in 2001. The Programme has been designed to run on a 5-year training pathway starting from the School of Natural Sciences at UNZA main campus. The programme has also been recruiting students with diploma in Pharmacy from Evelyn Hone College into the 3rd year of the programme after the applicants have satisfied the required entry requirements of the University of Zambia. Since its inception, the programme has produced more than four hundred graduates and continues to address the pharmaceutical manpower situation in Zambia. The number of locally trained pharmacy graduates has impacted positively on the delivery of quality pharmaceutical care. Nevertheless, the need for more pharmacists continues to increase thus creating the need for an effective, optimally resourced; well-functioning pharmacy programme increasingly pertinent.
Career Opportunities for Pharmacy Graduates
The profession of pharmacy encompasses a wide range of opportunities. The designs of the training curricular for the University of Zambia are based on those opportunities within the profession. There is a wide variety of subjects taught that offer graduating students a wide range of career options to choose from, such as hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, pharmacy management and administration, pharmacy business, forensic pharmacy, pharmaceutical regulation and many more.
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