Conclusion
Pharmacists from the MENA countries believed that they got enough education previously about epidemics/pandemics, and the majority follow on the latest coronavirus updates on treatments mostly from social media followed by the World Health Organization reports and published literature. The majority believed they have a major role in the management of the COVID-19, identifying fear as a barrier that requires resolutions by the policymakers. Certain gaps in the awareness about COVID-19 were identified, mainly concerning the conflicting news about Hydroxychloroquine and Ibuprofen use by infected patients. Such findings highlighted areas of improvement, and indicated that a significant association is found between higher awareness amongst pharmacists and the number of cases of COVID-19 patients in the MENA countries involved in the study. Results of this study have important international applicability, as pharmacists all over the world share similar barriers, responsibilities and engagements when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries in the MENA region and worldwide share similar undergraduate pharmacy education and training, in addition to similar healthcare systems 40, hence perspectives presented by the thousands of pharmacists involved in this study are an important springboard for further action.
Funding: This study was funded by the Deanship of Academic Research at Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
Conflicts of interest: None.
Specific contributions of each contributor to the paper: All authors were involved in all parts of study and manuscript preparation including literature search, study design, analysis of data, manuscript preparation, and review of manuscript.