22/07/2024
Dear Colleague,
It’s my pleasure to connect with fellow FIP members as president of FIP’s African Pharmaceutical Forum (APF), to introduce you to the forum, and to let you know about some of the work we will be doing to support the pharmacy profession in the African region over the coming months.
Introduction to the APF executive committee
Greetings on behalf of the APF Executive Committee (Left to right): William A. Adjabui, Secretary of Pharmaceutical Practice, Prosper Hiag, Immediate Past President, Jocelyn Chaibva, President, Arinola Joda, Vice President & Treasurer, Didier Mouliom Ngambe, Vice President, and Henri Charles Ainadou, Secretary of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Our key priorities
As APF, we have identified three FIP Development Goals 16 (communicable diseases), 17 (antimicrobial stewardship) and 18 (access to medicines, devices and services) as priorities for the region for the current period. These three selected priority areas will go a long way in mitigating the high disease burden in the African region. Pharmacists’ involvement is of paramount importance as we move towards the target of universal health coverage by 2030.
We are also currently working on four main projects.
1) The forum is working on a report that will provide an overview of pharmacy practices in the sub-Saharan region and address the critical healthcare areas aligned with the World Health Organization’s global health priorities, namely:
Workforce development and shortages;
The role of pharmacy in managing and preventing both communicable and non-communicable diseases;
Pharmacists’ contributions to humanitarian efforts; and
The implementation of sustainable pharmacy practices.
We anticipate that this report will be launched at the FIP congress in Cape Town, South Africa, in September 2024.
2) We are leading the transition of the FIP-UNESCO UNITWIN Centre for Excellence in Africa to an Africa-wide association of schools of pharmacy. This will be the first of its kind on the continent and bring together academic institutions to deliver on initiatives to transform education and facilitate the sharing of resources and best practices.
3) We are planning a survey to identify gaps, needs and solutions for inequalities for women in science and education and for early career pharmacists across the region. The findings will be analysed and actions will be set for the region, in collaboration with the FIPWiSE initiative and FIP’s Early Career Pharmaceutical Group.
4) The APF Executive Committee is planning to create a database of expertise across the continent to make it easy to target appropriate people for engagements across our region.
Over the coming months, the forum will also be publishing the next issue of our official journal, The African Pharmacist and developing some new digital events. Please follow us on Facebook for our latest news and announcements: www.facebook.com/APFpharmacistsAfrica/.
FIP members interested in supporting work in our region are invited to get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].
Lastly, this year, the APF is delighted to celebrate its 20th anniversary. We look forward to doing this at the FIP congress in South Africa. Make sure you’re there with us!
Best wishes,
Jocelyn Chaibva
President, African Pharmaceutical Forum
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
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