OPTIMISING EXPIRY DATE MANAGEMENT IN RETAIL PHARMACIES TO MINIMISE WASTE AND ENHANCE EFFICIENCY IN ZIMBABWE

Background: Expiry of medicines in retail pharmacies wastes money, endangers patients and harms the environment, yet the drivers of this loss remain poorly characterised in Zimbabwe. Aim: This study assessed expiry date management practices and compliance levels among supervisors of registered retail pharmacies in Zimbabwe, identified the operational and regulatory factors contributing to medicine expiry, and determined the categories of medicine most prone to expiry. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online questionnaire incorporating a twenty-one item, five-point Likert scale. The link was disseminated through professional pharmacist groups, yielding a voluntary response (non-probability) sample of 122 supervisors drawn from six of Zimbabwe’s ten provinces. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics in SPSS, with chi-square tests for associations between categorical variables. Results: All respondents (100%) reported using first-expired-first-out or first-in-first-out rotation, 91.0% used inventory software and 100% reported induction training. However, none (0%) had ever notified the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe of expired stock, all (100%) confirmed the absence of a national register for expired products, and only 31.1% had received regulatory training. The most strongly endorsed contributing factors were abrupt changes in treatment practice (91.8%), the absence of an inter-pharmacy transfer system (89.3%) and irrational prescribing (86.1%). Prescription-only medicines were judged most prone to expiry (70.5%). Conclusion: As self-reported findings, these results indicate a marked gap between the adoption of expiry management practices and regulatory oversight. They support, as a policy implication, the introduction of mandatory expiry reporting, minimum shelf-life requirements at delivery and structured continuing education.