Background: The coronavirus infection (COVID-19) was declared in January 2020 as a public health emergency of international concern. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), like other parts of the world, suffered from several epidemics over the years. Pharmacists have vital roles to play to prevent the spread of this virus. Objectives: To assess the awareness of COVID-19 amongst pharmacists from countries located in the MENA countries, and to assess their perspectives of their role, barriers, and roles of the educational institutions and pharmaceutical associations in preparing them for their roles during the pandemic. Methods: An online survey was conducted to run a descriptive cross-sectional study in Jordan from 12th to 22th April 2020. The questionnaire was validated and put on Facebook for pharmacists’ recruitment and assessment of their awareness (20 questions with a score out of 20) about epidemics/pandemics and COVID-19, their perceived roles and barriers, and roles of the educational institutions and pharmaceutical associations. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Results: Study participants (n= 2589) had a mean age of 29.3 (8.2) years and 1329 (51.5%) were females. Most of the participants were from Egypt 819 (40.8%), Followed by Jordan, Algeria, and Syria. As for the sources of information about coronavirus treatment among the study participants, 60.8% got their information from the social media. Fear as a consequence was identified by the majority of participants (87.7%). The majority of pharmacists identified positive roles for the pharmaceutical association and pharmaceutical associations. Conclusion: Pharmacists from the MENA countries believe they got enough education previously about epidemics/pandemics, and the majority follow on the latest coronavirus updates from social media. Fear was reported as the major barrier that requires resolution by the policymakers. Certain gaps in the awareness about COVID-19 were identified.

Rationale, aims, and objective: Evidences show that the level of awareness about H.pylori is still low, and working on this issue is expected to be very impactful to improve infection rates and disease spread. This research aimed is to assess the level of knowledge and the degree of awareness among undergraduate pharmacy students in regard to H pylori diagnosis and management before and after delivering an educational pharmacy intervention. Methods: This is a randomized controlled study that was conducted in May 2020. During the study period, 72 pharmacy students were invited to attend a workshop about H pylori management and diagnosis. Participants’ knowledge and general awareness about H pylori infection was evaluated before and after the workshop (25-minute educational lecture for the intervention group and educational pamphlet for the control group). At the end of the workshop participants’ ability to distinguish and correctly diagnose virtual cases was tested. Results: Most of the participating students (n=58, 80.6%) haven’t been involved in similar workshops previously. Following education workshop, students in the intervention group showed a significant improvement in their knowledge score (from 9.2 (SD=1.9) pre-workshop to 10.4 (SD= 1.9) post-workshop, (P-value =0.001) while students in the control group didn’t (pre-workshop knowledge score of 9.1 (SD= 2.2) and post-workshop score of 9.4 (SD= 1.6), (P-value =0.324). Also, students in the intervention group produced better results than the control group in distinguishing and diagnosing provided H pylori cases in the workshop with higher score of 2.2 for the intervention group compared to 1.6 for the control group (P-value= 0.026). Conclusion: Education workshops about H pylori infection are needed to build a strong base of qualified healthcare providers as an outstanding output of our higher educational programs, which in turn improves the quality and reduces the burden on healthcare systems.