Becoming the first ever to graduate with a doctorate in pharmacy at the University of Limpopo (UL), Dr. Nkateko Mabila expressed keen interest in advancing her research work around women and children’s health
She graduated at the university’s recent Autumn Graduation ceremonies, citing her achievement as motivation to contribute more to academia.
“Being the first D Pharm graduate, particularly as a black woman, demonstrates that given the right opportunities, women can also break the glass ceiling in academia,” she said.
Dr. Mabila, who was appointed Clinical Pharmacy Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy at UL in 2017, stated that she was determined to advance the knowledge, understanding, and competence of NIMART-trained nurses in the management of virally unsuppressed children in clinics in Limpopo Province’s Mopani District. NIMART (Nurse Initiated Management of Anti-Retroviral Therapy) is an online basic HIV clinical management acceleration programme that addresses the fundamentals of HIV management, including prevention, diagnosis, referral, and linkages to care, treatment initiation, monitoring, and treatment success.
This groundbreaking project is essential because antiretroviral (ARV) management in children poses a challenge to health professionals, and patients receiving ARVs remain at risk of medication errors. There has also been an increase in treatment failure, and drug resistance treatment guidelines have been reported as a challenge among nurses caring for people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
From her Ph.D. thesis, titled “Evaluation of antiretroviral use in Children Managed in Public Clinics of Mopani District, Limpopo Programme: Towards a Dosing and Dispensing Training Programme for nurses” a training programme for dosing and dispensing for nurses was developed, and implemented. The study also discovered a prevalence of drug omissions on specific regimens, incorrect dosing, and dosing frequencies, and insufficient ARV supplies to last until patients’ next appointment.
The study, which was aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) three adopted by the United Nations, which aspires to ensure health and well-being for all, highlighted that nurses’ prescribing practices were irrational because most prescriptions did not entirely comply with established HIV/AIDS treatment guidelines.
According to Dr. Mabila, the programme is the first of its kind, and it is recommended that the Department of Health implement an ARV stewardship programme to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’ ambitious 95-95-95 viral suppression target in children under the age of 15.
Dr. Mabila’s study novelty is threefold. Methodologically, she designed an approach for clinical pharmacologists to explore prescribing practices. In Child health, it contributes to the unravelling of intricacies of ARV care. While in the field of Community Pharmacology, valuable literature and training material for health workers involved in supporting nurses’ practice in remote Primary Health Care areas.
By Evans Khalo