Good pharmacy practice in community pharmacies in the Lao People's Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study

Community pharmacies play a crucial role as a primary healthcare access point in low- and middle-income countries, including the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) guidelines are the basics to establish minimum standards of community pharmacy practice. This study aimed to assess adherence to the GPP standards of community pharmacies in the Lao PDR and investigate factors associated with poor adherence to the GPP standards.

Data collection of this cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 provinces from November 2022 to June 2023. The inspection of GPP adherence regarding facility, storage, services, dispensing, and rational use was performed in 180 pharmacies without any prior notification. Data regarding characteristics of the pharmacies (location, class, period since opening, opening hours per day, income per day, number of customers per day, and number of staff members), and interviewed staff (sex, education level, and employment status) were also collected. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were performed.

This study found only 11.7% of the community pharmacies met 80% or higher of total GPP standards. Community pharmacies located outside of the city were 9.29 times more likely to show low GPP adherence than pharmacies in the city. Male pharmacists were 2.38 times more likely to exhibit low GPP adherence than female pharmacists.

Our study elucidated that community pharmacies located outside of the city and male pharmacists might be the target of focused administrative inspection, guidance, or support to refine community pharmacy practice in the Lao PDR.