Supporting Vulnerable and Medically Underserved Groups through Community Pharmacy

Dear Colleagues,

The right to physical and mental health is a universal human right. However, vulnerable patients and people that are medically under-served have higher rates of disease and ill-health and find accessing health and screening services challenging. In these cases, people’s experience with health services is variable, with many experiencing disadvantage or discrimination as a result of their status. People belonging to often marginalised groups (e.g. people with disabilities, homeless, home-bound, black and minority ethnic communities) experience significant inequitable access to care. This results in them experiencing poorer health outcomes when compared to the general population.

Improving fairness, social justice and addressing health disparities is a priority for our health systems. Community pharmacy is well placed to offer such support. Seen as ‘experts on medicines’, pharmacists are accessible through their extended opening hours and pharmacies are located in greater numbers in areas of highest deprivation.

We invite you to share your views and research that seeks to help the most vulnerable in our society. We are particularly interested in patient voices that are seldom heard, whether these be accounts of patients struggling to manage medicine regimens at home or interventions that seek to improve patient-professional engagement. We hope this Special Issue will highlight the significant problems that vulnerable and medically under-served groups face when managing their health and medicines. We also hope it will offer new insights and interventions that will tailor support to them.

Dr. Asam Latif
Founding Dean and Professor George E. MacKinnon III, PhD, MS, RPh
Chair/Assoc. Prof. Kajua Betsy Lor
Guest Editors

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