Development of a Pharmacy Workforce Planning Model for Universal Health Coverage in Ekiti State

Achieving universal health coverage in Ekiti State requires adequate pharmacy workforce distribution across all levels of care, yet no systematic pharmacy workforce plan exists to guide recruitment, deployment, and training decisions. This study developed a pharmacy workforce planning model for universal health coverage implementation in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria. A mixed-methods workforce planning methodology was used, comprising health facility pharmacy staffing census, service workload analysis, benchmarking against WHO and FIP pharmacy workforce standards, and stakeholder consultations with state health ministry officials, professional associations, and community health advocates. Surveys were conducted at 24 public health facilities in 16 LGAs, including three tertiary hospitals, six secondary hospitals, and 15 primary healthcare centres. Results showed a pharmacist-to-population ratio of 1:12,400, substantially below the WHO minimum of 1:2,000. Over 65 percent of primary healthcare centres had no qualified pharmacist and relied on untrained dispensers. The workforce planning model proposed incorporates projected population growth, anticipated disease burden shifts, phased staffing norms by facility level, competency-based training recommendations, and retention strategy components. Fiscal costing of the plan is provided for a five-year implementation horizon. Expert stakeholder review validated the model's feasibility and alignment with state health system capacity. The study recommends the model be adopted as the basis for Ekiti State's pharmacy workforce chapter of its Health System Strategic Plan.

Keywords: pharmacy workforce planning, universal health coverage, Ekiti State, pharmacist-to-population ratio, health system