RESEARCH showing 'pharmacy deserts' across disadvantaged parts of Los Angeles County highlight the benefits of Australia's Pharmacy Location Rules, a spokesperson for the Pharmacy Guild of Australia believes.
The study conducted by the University of California, Irvine (UCI) found that areas lacking pharmacy access were often characterised by denser populations, larger numbers of Latino and African-American residents, higher rates of crime, lower levels of home and car ownership, and greater poverty.
UCI Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Clinical Pharmacy Practice, Cheryl Wisseh, said these social determinants of health compound the negative effects of pharmacy shortage through competing needs.
"For example, some residents living below the poverty line may choose to forgo picking up their medications so that they can pay for food, rent and other necessities," she said.
Wisseh added that the prevalence of pharmacy deserts in underprivileged areas meant residents had less access to health screening, vaccination and medication management services, than those living in areas where pharmacies were more accessible.
"Residents in Los Angeles County pharmacy deserts might benefit greatly from equitable, innovative, community-based interventions that increase access to medications, pharmacy services and pharmacists," she said.
Wisseh suggested that authorities in the area could look to add pharmacists to local health clinics and other primary care settings to boost access to pharmacy services in these areas.
Responding to questions from Pharmacy Daily, a Guild spokesperson said the Pharmacy Location Rules in Australia had proven effective to preventing the emergence of pharmacy deserts in lower socioeconomic areas.
"The beneficial and equitable distribution of 5,800 community pharmacies across Australia is not an accident of the market," the spokesperson said.
"It is a direct result of the Pharmacy Location Rules."
The research was published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
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