Organised by FIP’s Community Pharmacy Section, in collaboration with IPSF and the YPG

Chairs

Warren Meek (C7 Consulting Limited, Canada) and Manjiri Gharat (Indian Pharmaceutical Association, India)

Introduction

For hundreds of years, the Arabic world has had a profound influence on the science and art of pharmacy. Pharmacy’s independence from medicine can be traced to the opening of the private apothecary in Baghdad circa AD 750. While charlatans, spice and perfume sellers, and drug dealers were common in the 8th century, pharmacy was already beginning to emerge as a respected profession.

What is the state of that profession now in the greater Middle East region and LMIC-countries?

Pharmacies are increasingly being recognised as a formal gate of entry to the healthcare system. Collaborative interaction between patients and pharmacists, with or without the provision of a therapeutic substance, confers undoubted benefits to the total healthcare system. More governments need to consider and promote the relevance and importance of self-care and acknowledge the role of pharmacists in delivering improved patient health outcomes through supporting patients in self-care activities.

Pharmacy is a dynamic profession. However, in developing countries, the profession has remained stagnant, with a focus on dispensing and selling medicines, and as such risks the very essence of its existence. To change the image of the profession in developing countries there is a need to identify service opportunities that would perpetuate the continued relevance of the profession to health systems and communities. Even though new opportunities in the areas of public health, pharmaceutical supply chain management, pharmacovigilance, regulation, management, rational drug use and others are emerging in different forms and designs, pharmacists struggle to develop both their pharmacies as well as their healthcare systems. Changes in mindsets, perceptions, curricula and teaching methodologies are some of the requirements required to catalyse the process of modernising the profession of pharmacy in developing countries. But system changes are also necessary.

By establishing pharmacy as the gateway to care, pharmacy can and will contribute to the World Health Organization’s Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, all over the world.

This session intends to capture the current pharmacist and pharmacy culture and practice within the Middle East, identify opportunities for professional improvement, and share potential professional advancements.

Programme

Learning Objectives