Soft targets or partners in health? Retail pharmacies and their role in Tanzania's malaria control program

The retail sector has been at the center of recent policy debates concerning its role in malaria control programs in Africa. This article closely examines the perspectives of owners and managers of retail pharmacies and drug shops in Dar es Salaam, toward the dominant public health discourse and practices surrounding the deployment of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) as a way forward in malaria control. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between May-August 2007, and July-August 2009, involving in-depth interviews and participant observation in pharmacies and drug shops in Dar es Salaam, the article describes the social realities facing people who manage retail pharmacies, the nature of their interactions with customers, the kinds of antimalarials they sell, and their perspective on how the new malaria treatment guidelines have affected their business. Findings suggest that for most pharmacy owners and managers, it is 'business as usual' concerning the sale of conventional antimalarials, with a majority reporting that the introduction of ACT in public health facilities had not negatively affected their business. Implications of the research findings are examined in the context of proposed interventions to make pharmacy owners and managers more socially responsible and adhere to government health regulations. The article makes a case for actively involving pharmacy owners and managers in decision making processes surrounding the implementation of new treatment guidelines, and training programs that have an impact on their business, social responsibility, and community health. In considering regulatory interventions, health planners must explicitly address the concern that retail pharmacies fill an important role in the country's health care system, and that the complex nexus that drives the global pharmaceutical market often governs their operations at the local level.