Study on Pharmacognosy Curricula in UAE B. Pharm Programmes and Possible Implications

Pharmacognosy is the science which studies crude drugs from plants, animal and mineral origin. Such drugs are prepared as tinctures, teas, poultices, powders, and other herbal formulations. In the past Pharmacognosy education included identification and quality control of crude drugs based on macroscopic and microscopic examination.1 Recently, Pharmacognosy included identification, isolation and biological activities of natural active constituents from crude drugs. New courses related to ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, and ethnopharmacology were included. Though the word Pharmacognosy rarely appears in the Pharmacy curricula of the UK and USA, some of the contents of Pharmacognosy are present in other terminologies such as drug discovery, natural products, medicinal plants, herbal therapy, phytotherapy, natural medicines, and phytopharmaceuticals. The importance of Pharmacognosy is increasing in countries such as Brazil, China, and India.1


INTRODUCTION
Pharmacognosy is the science which studies crude drugs from plants, animal and mineral origin. Such drugs are prepared as tinctures, teas, poultices, powders, and other herbal formulations. In the past Pharmacognosy education included identification and quality control of crude drugs based on macroscopic and microscopic examination. 1 Recently, Pharmacognosy included identification, isolation and biological activities of natural active constituents from crude drugs. New courses related to ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, and ethnopharmacology were included. Though the word Pharmacognosy rarely appears in the Pharmacy curricula of the UK and USA, some of the contents of Pharmacognosy are present in other terminologies such as drug discovery, natural products, medicinal plants, herbal therapy, phytotherapy, natural medicines, and phytopharmaceuticals. The importance of Pharmacognosy is increasing in countries such as Brazil, China, and India. 1 Active constituents from medicinal plants lead to new drug discovery. 2 Research in many isolated active constituents from medicinal plants has resulted in compounds for the treatment of cancer, bacterial and viral infections and immunity disorders. In most cases, the discovery of new active constituents from medicinal plants leads to a better understanding of pathways in diseases, 3 as well as drug discovery.
Herbalism is the use of different morphological parts from crude plant materials, either whole or reduced in size, to promote health. Herbalism refers to the application of Pharmacognosy knowledge to promote health by the use of crude medicinal plants. This practice was the ancient treatment for diseases 100 years ago. Nowadays, about 80% of the world population depends on herbal medicine. In 2008 the world market for herbal medicine was about USD 83 billion. It increased to 100 billion in 2013 and is continuously increasing. 4 In the past, pharmacognosy represented a major part of B. Pharm Curricula in Universities. This was due to the fact that Pharmacognosy was the basic science from which other Pharmaceutical Sciences were developed.
The current Pharmacy Curricula development initiatives in developing countries are focused on the compatibility of B. Pharm. programmes in those countries with curricula of Pharm D. and M. Pharm programmes in the USA and Europe, respectively. The fundamental reason for these initiatives was the expansion of courses in Patient-oriented Pharmacy. This necessitated the introduction of more courses related to clinical pharmacy. 5 Yet, it was reported that an ideal clinical pharmacy set up in the health care systems of these developing countries is still under developed. 6 Shandal and co-workers, 7 reported on the need of a balanced curricula between patient -oriented courses and other pharmaceutical sciences. To our knowledge no other workers reported on the possible implications of pharmacognosy curricula in UAE, Africa and Middle east.
This study was directed mainly to UAE Universities offering B. Pharm programmes. Representative Universities from other regions offering B. Pharm programmes were also included in the study. The objective of this study is to reflect the effect of insufficient Pharmacognosy curricula at the university level and its implication on Drug production and Discovery, Health Care System, and Herbalism. Recommendations to overcome the adverse effects resulting from this impact are given.

Data collection
The source of data for this study was collected from official websites of thirteen (13) different universities offering B. Pharm programmes. 8-20 Among 13 universities, 6 universities from UAE, 3 from Africa and 4 from the Middle East. Study plans representing the curricula of B. Pharm programmes for these universities were subjected to this study.

Divisions of the study plan
Each Study Plan is divided into eight divisions. Each division includes the total credit hours for courses belonging to the same specialty. Courses included under each division (Table 1) are not necessarily all courses included in the studied Study Plans, but represents the most common courses in these Study Plans.

Data analysis of B. Pharm curricula
The data analysis of B. Pharm. Curricula were achieved by summing the credit hours allotted for all courses related to each division of the study plan, then the percentage of each division from total credit hours of the study plan was calculated ( Table 2).

Analysis of B. Pharm curricula in UAE
The study plans of six universities from UAE offering B. Pharm programme were analyzed according to data analysis of B. Pharm. Curricula. The B.Pharm Study duration in these universities is four years and range from 150-170 credit hours ( Table 2).

Analysis of B. Pharm curricula in Africa
The study plans of three universities from Africa offering B. Pharm programme were analyzed according to data analysis of B. Pharm. Curricula described at the beginning of the Methodology. In these universities, study duration is five years and range from 188-310 credit hours ( Table 3).

Analysis of B. Pharm curricula in the middle East
The study plans of four universities from the Middle East offering B. Pharm programme were analyzed according to data analysis of B. Pharm. Curricula described at the beginning of the Methodology. In   these universities, study duration is five years and range from 160-265 credit hours (Table 4). These universities represent other Arab countries than the Gulf countries.

Comparative study of credit hours between pharmacognosy and patient-oriented courses from UAE universities
The comparative credit hours between Pharmacognosy and Patient-Oriented courses of UAE Universities are represented in Figure 1. Data used were obtained from percentage of relative divisions shown in Table 2.

Comparative study of credit hours between pharmacognosy and patient-oriented courses of different regions
The comparative credit hours between Pharmacognosy and Patient-Oriented courses of different regions are represented in Figure 2. Data used was obtained from the average percentage of divisions shown in Tables 2-4.
Comparative study of credit hours between pharmacognosy and biomedical courses from UAE universities The comparative credit hours between Pharmacognosy and Biomedical courses from UAE Universities are represented in Figure  3. Data used were obtained from percentage divisions shown in Table 2.

Comparative study of credit hours between pharmacognosy and biomedical courses from different regions
The comparative credit hours between Pharmacognosy and Biomedical courses of Universities from different regions are represented in Figure  4. Data used were obtained from the average percentage divisions shown in Tables 2-4.

Comparative analysis of B. Pharm curricula from different regions
The comparative credit hours allotted to all divisions of B. Pharm curricula from studied universities are represented in Figure 5. Data used were obtained from the average percentage divisions shown in Tables 2-4

DISCUSSION
Current B. Pharm Curricula in some developing countries aimed at increasing Patient-oriented courses for Pharmacy graduates. There is no doubt that this is beneficial for the development of the performance of Pharmacy graduates towards the requirements of their jobs in respective countries. This reflected on decreasing credit hours allotted to Pharmacognosy courses in B Pharm curricula of the studied countries, though Pharmacognosy is one of the main Pharmaceutical Sciences of the B. Pharm programmes in the past. In 2018 Shandal and co-workers 7 studied this issue. To our knowledge no other workers reported on that issue.
Present results of current B. Pharm. Curricula of UAE universities revealed relatively low credit hours allotted to Pharmacognosy courses (4.7%) of the study plans as compared to Patient -oriented courses (18.1%). This is illustrated in Table 2 and Figure 2. That reveals the Current B. Pharm Curricula focus on developing Patient-oriented courses at the expense of Pharmacognosy. Yet, the clinical pharmacy practice in these countries is still under developed. 3 Such a trend is practiced in all Gulf countries. An exception of UAE universities, is USTF which maintained the same percentage of credit hours to both Pharmacognosy and Patient-oriented courses (9.3%) Figure 1.
The same above pattern of UAE universities is also reflected on the studied representative universities from Africa and Middle East. Some keep nearly balanced distribution between Pharmacognosy and Patient-oriented courses and others show big differences between the two. University of Khartoum from Africa show balanced distribution: Pharmacognosy courses (11.2%) and Patient -oriented courses (13.8%). Table 3. Al-Bath University from Middle East: Pharmacognosy courses (8.7%) and Patient -oriented courses (9.8%). Table 4. On the other hand some universities reflected a big difference between the two courses. Addis-Ababa University from Africa: Pharmacognosy courses (6.5%) and Patient -oriented courses (38.7%). Table 3. Beirut Arab University from Middle East: Pharmacognosy courses (8.3%) and Patient -oriented courses (28.3%). Table 4. The differences in average percentage between Pharmacognosy and Patient-oriented courses in these regions is nearly the same as in UAE universities, an average of low credit hours allotted to Pharmacognosy and relatively high credit hours allotted to Patient-oriented courses, Figure 2. African universities: Pharmacognosy courses (8.9%) and Patient -oriented courses (21.7%). Middle East universities: Pharmacognosy courses (8.6%) and Patientoriented courses (17.7). Yet the credit hours affected to pharmacognosy courses in both Africa (8.9%) and the Middle East (8.6%) are higher than that of UAE (4.7%).
Other big difference in average credit hours is between Pharmacognosy and Biomedical courses. The big difference between average credit hours allotted to Pharmacognosy and Biomedical courses in UAE universities is represented in Figure 3. As seen all UAE universities show big difference between the two courses with the exception of USTF and Dubai Pharmacy College. The big difference is reflected in all three regions, Figure 4.

RECOMMENDATIONS
To ensure the continuous progress of Pharmacognosy education and its support to Drug Discovery Health Care System as well as Research and Development of Herbalism, it is recommended to balance credit hours allotted to Pharmacognosy courses in study plans of developing countries. These additional credit hours may be deducted from Biomedical or University Requirements courses. New advanced courses to B. Pharm curricula, such as Phytoyherpy, Phytopharmaceutics, Herbal Therapy and Natural Medicine may be included. Conferences by Colleges of Pharmacy in developing countries to discuss the issue of decreasing credit hours allotted to Pharmacognosy within the B. Pharm Curricula may be organized.
There is an urgent need to advance the practice of Herbalism. Therefore, it is recommended to initiate Conferences on Herbalism and establish Herbalism Institutes and Herbal Drug Pharmacy under the direction of the Ministry of Health in developing countries.