TY - JOUR AU - A. Olugbake, Olubusola AU - O. Ashamu, Kafayat AU - E. Ezika, Chitoo PY - 2022/03/28 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Comparative assessment, awareness and perception of community pharmacists on use of malaria rapid diagnostic test in Lagos state JF - The Nigerian Journal of Pharmacy JA - PSNNJP VL - 56 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - UR - https://psnnjp.org/index.php/home/article/view/122 SP - 144-151 | https://doi.org/10.51412/psnnjp.2022.16 AB - <p><strong>Background: </strong>Presumptive treatment of malaria has led to over diagnosis and over use of antimalarial&nbsp;leading to development of resistance to antimalarial medications. The gold standard for the detection&nbsp;of malaria is microscopic examination. However, the development of RDTs made it possible to get&nbsp;reliable diagnostic testing at all times where previously only clinical diagnosis was available.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A cross sectional study which involved 223 Patients and 321 Community Pharmacists in&nbsp;Lagos state, a south western part of Nigeria. Patients, who presented to the Pharmacy with symptoms&nbsp;such as chills, loss of appetite and other symptoms suggestive of malaria were recruited, and tested&nbsp;using RDT kit, and laboratory microscopic evaluation. An open and closed ended administered&nbsp;Questionnaires was used to assess the awareness and perception of Pharmacists on the use of RDT.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>RDT had a sensitivity of 14.29% and a specifificity of 100%. The negative predictive value&nbsp;gotten from the study was 11.33% and a positive predictive value of 100%. The Community&nbsp;Pharmacists indicated high awareness, and were also of the opinion that RDTs were unreliable.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>From this study, it was shown that RDT kit is not an effiffifficient diagnostic tool for detecting&nbsp;malaria, as the result obtained showed low sensitivity as compared to microscopy. The study also&nbsp;explains why, community Pharmacists are aware of the use of RDT, but lack the willingness to use it.&nbsp;Hence, microscopy still remains a better and more reliable tool for detecting presence of malaria parasite.</p> ER -