ArticleGlobal health action2017
Using pharmacists and drugstore workers as sexual healthcare givers: a qualitative study of men who have sex with men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Article in Global health action, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of qualitative literature on antimicrobial stewardship in Sub-Saharan Africa.Global health research and policy · 2021Pooled it
- Knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance among patients in rural South Africa and the implications for future policies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Five different ways of reasoning: Tanzanian healthcare workers' ideas about how to improve HIV prevention among same-sex attracted men.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- A qualitative study to explore the healthcare-seeking experiences of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) in Rwanda.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- An Assessment of Community Pharmacists' Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services.Innovations in pharmacy · 2023Article
- 'Fighting an uphill battle': a qualitative study of the challenges encountered by pharmacy workers when providing services to men who have sex with men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Global health action · 2020Article
- Not a Problem at All or Excluded by Oneself, Doctors and the Law? Healthcare Workers' Perspectives on Access to HIV-Related Healthcare among Same-Sex Attracted Men in Tanzania.Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS CareArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrevious research has shown that men who have sex with men (MSM) avoid formal healthcare services because of the fear of discrimination as homosexuality is illegal and stigmatized in Tanzania. Instead, self-treatment by medications obtained directly from pharmacies or drugstores may be common when MSM experience symptoms of suspected sexually transmitted infections (STIs) related to sexual activity with men.
objectiveTo explore MSM's perceptions and experiences of seeking treatment and advice from pharmacists and drugstore workers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with regards to their sexual health and STI-related problems. MATERIALS AND
methods15 in-depth interviews were conducted with MSM with experience of seeking assistance relating to their sexual health at pharmacies and drugstores in Dar es Salaam in 2016. A qualitative manifest and latent content analysis was applied to the collected data.
resultsFour themes related to different aspects of MSM's perceptions and experiences of pharmacy care emerged from the analysis: (1) Balancing threats against need for treatment reflected informants' struggles concerning risks and benefits of seeking assistance at pharmacies and drugstores; (2) Identifying strategies to access required services described ways of approaching a pharmacist when experiencing a sexual health problem; (3) Seeing pharmacists as a first choice of care focused on informants' reasons for preferring contact with pharmacies/drugstores rather than formal healthcare services; and (4) Lacking reliable services at pharmacies indicated what challenges existed related to pharmacy care.
conclusionsMSM perceived the barriers for accessing assistance for STI and sexual health problems at pharmacies and drugstores as low, thereby facilitating their access to potential treatment. However, the results further revealed that MSM at times received inadequate drugs and consequently inadequate treatment. Multi-facetted approaches are needed, both among MSM and drugstore, pharmacy, and healthcare workers, to improve knowledge of MSM sexual health, STI treatment, and risks of antibiotic resistance.
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