IPSF Annual Report 2005-06

Index President's Message

3

Vice-President's Message

3

IPSF Executive

4

51st IPSF Congress

7

Pharmacy Education

8

Professional Development

10

Public Health

12

Student Exchange Programme

14

Publications

15

Regional Offices and Allied Regional Organisations

16

IPSF Promotion

18

Acknowledgements

19

IPSF was founded in London in 1949 with eight member countries. The Federation has grown to represent over 350,000 students and young pharmacists from 65 countries worldwide. IPSF is a non-profit, non-political and non-religious volunteer organisation whose aim is to study and promote the interests of pharmacy students and to encourage international co-operation among them. The Federation has its secretariat located with the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in The Hague, The Netherlands. IPSF holds Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Operational Relations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

IPSF represents pharmacy students from: Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo UNMIK, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia FYR, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, The United States of America, Vietnam, and Taiwan, China.

2

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

IPSF Message President's Message On the eve of the 52nd IPSF Congress to be held in Cairns, Australia, the IPSF Executive is pleased to report on the many exciting developments that have occurred in 2005-06.

Throughout the year IPSF sought to collaborate closely with its partner organisations and further strengthen these important partnerships. IPSF, the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA) and the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) have completed the Indian TB Fact Card Project in Mumbai with great success. After the launch of the booklet Counselling Concordance and Communication - Innovative Education for Pharmacists at the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Congress in Cairo, the booklet has received widespread acclaim. The booklet has been translated into Chinese and preparations are underway to translate the booklet into Japanese and Portuguese. The first World Medical and Pharmacy Students' Symposium, initiated by four student organisations, was a land mark event in promoting multidisciplinary health care. Following close collaboration with the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA), IPSF launched a new capacity building programme for pharmacy students, Training the Trainers.

IPSF maintained its Official Relations status with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Operational Relations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). IPSF actively participated in meetings and events of WHO and UNESCO, and consulted them about IPSF's public health and educational initiatives. More WHO internships for pharmacy students were established with the Stop TB Partnership and Department of Medicines Policy and Standards.

Numerous initiatives endorsed by IPSF were adopted and implemented in IPSF member associations worldwide.

These initiatives included the IPSF Student Exchange Programme, public health campaigns, activities to promote and develop the pharmacy profession, and global research projects to investigate the quality of pharmacy education and the migratory intentions of pharmacy students.

2005-06 was another year of success in the Federation. I trust that you will find the IPSF Annual Report 2005-06 interesting and enjoyable to read.

Katja Hakkarainen President 2005-06

V ice-President's Message The 57th year of the Federation's existence was yet another one of challenges, hard work and success. The Executive Committee did an outstanding job co-operating with one another, sharing duties and making decisions that will allow IPSF to continue to grow and prosper in the future.

The 51st General Assembly left the new Executive Committee and the SubCommittees with many tasks to carry out and strengthen the administrative stability of the Federation. A new membership fee system that can be updated easily was worked out, the official documents of IPSF were revised and updated, new forms were created, and the scope of the Development Fund was widened to allow more students, activities and projects to be granted. Communication this year was very effective and fluent within the Executive Committee, with member organisations, and with pharmacy students and young pharmacists around the world who showed interest in the work of IPSF. IPSF also managed to maintain and improve its relationship with allied and professional organisations and established new contacts.

As an organisation with rich traditions, a strong internal base and structure, excellent external relations as well as enthusiastic and hard-working members, IPSF has all the potential and power to develop further in the future.

Georgina Gรกl Vice-President and Secretary General 2005-07

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

3

IPSF Executive Katja Hakkarainen, Finland President and Permanent Officer Katja started in IPSF as the Student Exchange Officer for Finland in 2003. She was elected the IPSF Chairperson of Student Exchange for 2003-04, when she also served as the Permanent Officer. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 2004, Katja has worked part time as a community pharmacist in Helsinki.

In 2005-06 Katja took the fifth year off from her Masters of Pharmacy studies at the University of Helsinki in order to move to The Hague and work full time for the Federation.

IPSF Executive

Georgina Gál, Hungary Secretary General and Vice-President Georgina is a student of the Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. She became involved in student organisations when the 48th IPSF Congress was held in Budapest, Hungary in 2002. She has participated in four IPSF Congresses since. She was Secretary General of the Hungarian Pharmaceutical Students' Association, a member of the IPSF Student Exchange Committee, the IPSF Chairperson of Student Exchange 2004-05, and now the IPSF Secretary General 2005-07. She has worked for the Federation with enthusiasm and ensured that administrative tasks in IPSF are well taken care of.

Juha Mönkäre, Finland Treasurer Juha started his term as the IPSF Treasurer after two successful years on the executive board of the Finnish Pharmaceutical Students' Association; first as treasurer in 2004 and then as the IPSF Contact Person in 2005. Juha is finishing his fourth year of pharmacy studies at Kuopio University, Finland. As the IPSF Treasurer he took care of the financial administration of IPSF in an exemplary manner and also fervently contributed to general tasks of the Executive Committee beyond his own portfolio.

Axel Thomas, France Chairperson of Public Relations In 2004, Axel was elected the Vice President for International Relations for the French pharmacy students association, working as IPSF Contact Person for France. He received the IPSF Contact Person Recognition Award at the 51st IPSF Congress in 2005, where he was elected the IPSF Chairperson of Public Relations.

Axel is having his practice internship of Industrial Pharmacist in Ireland after finishing his sixth year and a MBA in Reims. Axel represented IPSF in numerous meetings throughout the year, and encouraged six new member associations to join IPSF in 2006.

4

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

IPSF Executive Ellen Diedrichsen, The United States of America Chairperson of Pharmacy Education Before her first IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany, Ellen served IPSF as the Student Exchange Officer for The United States of America and attended two IPSF Pan-American Regional Symposiums. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2005 and completed a pharmacy practice residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. During her term on the IPSF Executive Committee, Ellen led the IPSF Moving On Research Projects extremely successfully and developed numerous educational programmes for pharmacy students around the globe.

Yoko is a fourth year student at the Meiji Pharmaceutical University in Tokyo. She contributed to establishing the Japanese pharmacy students' organisation in 2002. In 2003-05 she continued as the president of the local pharmacy students' association and as IPSF Contact Person; in 2004-05 she was an IPSF Student Exchange Officer; among other tasks in the Federation. Yoko promoted IPSF public health campaigns throughout the year, and brought IPSF members many more opportunities to work in the field of public health.

Mohanad Nader, Egypt Chairperson of Publications After being elected for a second term at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany, Mohanad continued providing the Federation with even better publications than before. Mohanad had been active in the Alexandria Scientific Pharmaceutical Students' Association and in IPSF as the Chairperson of Publications 2004-05. Mohanad has just finished his fifth year of pharmacy at the Alexandria University.

IPSF Executive

Yoko Gocho, Japan Chairperson of Public Health

Irena Ĺ ubovĂĄ, Czech Republic Chairperson of Student Exchange Irena attended her first IPSF congress in Budapest, Hungary in 2002. Since then she has been actively involved in the Federation as Student Exchange Officer and Contact Person for the Czech Pharmacy Students' Association, as an IPSF Exchange Student in South Africa and at the IPSF Secretariat, and as a member of the IPSF Student Exchange Committee. Irena graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University, in June 2005, and now works in the pharmaceutical industry in Prague. As the IPSF Chairperson of Student Exchange, Irena ensured smooth running of the Student Exchange Programme and further developed the online exchange database.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

5

IPSF Executive Yasmine Salah Koraiem, Egypt Chairperson of Professional Development

IPSF Executive

Yasmine succeeded in gaining IPSF membership for her association, the Alexandria Scientific Pharmaceutical Students' Association, at the 50th IPSF Congress in Halifax, Canada, in 2004. As the Officer of Education and Information for her association, she was elected the IPSF Chairperson of Professional Development at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany.

During her term. She is a fourth year student at the University of Alexandria. Yasmine enthusiastically guided pharmacy students across the world in developing professional development activities endorsed by IPSF. Karen McGill, The United States of America Chairperson of IPSF Pan American Regional Office Karen first became active in IPSF at the 49th IPSF Congress in Singapore in 2003. Since then she has attended IPSF Pan American Regional Symposia in Panama and Jamaica, and IPSF Congresses in Canada and Germany. Karen held various leadership positions in national organisations prior to being elected the Chairperson of the IPSF Pan American Regional Office. Karen has just finished her sixth and final year at Purdue University. As the Chairperson, Karen focused on membership promotion and increasing communication in the region.

Doungporn Leenanupan (Jang), Thailand Chairperson of IPSF Asia Pacific Regional Office Jang is a fourth year pharmacy student at the Pharmacy Faculty, Silpakorn University. Her first IPSF experience was at the 3rd IPSF Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium in 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand. Jang served the regional office as the Secretary in 200304, and continued as the Chairperson in 2005-06. She led the regional office to tremendous success, increasing activities and establishing working relationships with new countries and professional partners.

Joseph Whitehouse, Australia Chairperson of 52nd IPSF Congress Organising Committee Joseph's first exposure to IPSF was the 48th IPSF Congress in Budapest, Hungary in 2002. He has attended all Congresses since and was a member of many IPSF committees. As the President of the National Australian Pharmacy Students' Association in 2003, Joseph boosted Australian involvement in IPSF. The most exciting moment in his involvement with IPSF occurred at the 50th IPSF Congress in Halifax, when Australia won the bid to host the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia in 2006. As the Chairperson of the Organising Committee Joseph guarantees the Congress will be an amazing and unique event for all involved.

6

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

51st IPSF Congress The 51st IPSF Congress held in Bonn, Germany, from 5th to 14th August 2005 marked the end of the workyear 2004-05. Close to 200 participants from 41 countries gathered to learn about IPSF, its activities and international pharmacy, to meet students from round the world and to celebrate the achievements of the Federation in the past year.

Social events included a trip to beautiful Cologne and the boat cruise back to Bonn, an open-air barbeque dinner and the usual features of IPSF congresses: the traditional German Evening, the multicultural and colourful International Night, the Development Fund Auction, and the elegant Gala Dinner.

Significant decisions made by the General Assembly at the Congress included developing a Training the Trainers capacity building programme, starting a Moving On III research project on students' intentions to migrate and merging the executive positions of Chairperson of Pharmacy Education and Chairperson of Professional Development. New members associations from Serbia and Kuwait were welcomed by the General Assembly and the Pharmaceutical Students' Association of Taiwan, China, successfully won the bid to host of the 53rd IPSF Congress in 2007.

After a post congress tour around Germany, the congress participants returned to their home countries enriched, well equipped, enthusiastic and motivated to implement initiatives endorsed by IPSF at national and local levels.

51st IPSF Congress

The congress offered participants an interesting educational and professional programme which consisted of General Assembly sessions, the Patient Counselling Event, public health and educational workshops, meetings of various committees and officials of IPSF, an Educational Forum, a Scientific Symposium and a poster exhibition. The theme of the Poster Exhibition was Cytotoxic Agents - New Strategies in Anti-Cancer Therapy while lectures and presentations on Current Research on Modern Cytostatic Drugs were given at the Scientific Symposium. Highly recognised international guest speakers presented at the Educational Forum about multi-disciplinary pharmacy education and e-learning.

The Bonn experience intensified the fervor of the newly-elected Executive and spurred them on to do their best to serve the Federation until the next IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

7

Pharmacy Education

Pharmacy Education

IPSF is committed to promoting quality pharmacy education and encourages its member associations to be proactive in improving pharmacy education.

8

In 2005-06 IPSF ran two original research projects, Moving On II and Moving On III. Moving On II is a questionnaire-based project that studies pharmacy curricula, student learning experiences and quality of pharmacy education worldwide. In 2005-06, over 3400 responses were received from 18 countries, including Bangladesh, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Iceland, India, Israel, Nepal, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, USA, and Taiwan, China. This brings the total number of questionnaires collected to be about 5000 from 25 countries since the start of data collection in March 2005. The questionnaire was translated into German, Serbian, Czech, Spanish and Catalan to increase response rates and accuracy of results for non-English speaking countries. More translation work is expected to be carried out. An online questionnaire is currently being developed to allow more efficient data collection in countries that prefer online systems. Data collection for Moving On II will continue for another year. As a collaborative effort, Moving On II was also adopted by the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations.

A report on the motivations for studying pharmacy, an area which Moving On II collected data on, was submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2005 for the World Health Report 2006: Working Together for Health. Interim results of the Moving On II project will be presented at the 52nd IPSF Congress in July 2006 in Cairns, Australia, at the 66th Congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in August 2006 in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, and at the 21st Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA) Congress Students' Session in November 2006 in Yokohama, Japan.

The migration of skilled workers, especially health workers, has been the topic of many projects and discussion papers. The Moving On III research project was started in August 2005 at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany, to study this issue in final year pharmacy students. The aim of the project is to determine factors in the education and environment of pharmacy students that influence their desire to migrate. To date, over 500 responses have been gathered from nine countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Croatia, Egypt, Portugal, Nepal, Singapore, Slovenia, and Zimbabwe. Preliminary data indicates that the majority of final year pharmacy students plan to migrate abroad within the next five years. A further round of data collection is planned for September 2006 with at least 11 more countries taking part: Denmark, France, Finland, Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Zambia. Moving On III is a pilot study with potentially greater applications across more disciplines to identify opportunities to improve workforce retention and conditions.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Pharmacy Education

A new Training the Trainers programme, adopted at the 51st IPSF Congress, aimed at training students on aspects of leadership, project management, presentation skills, and other areas. At the first IPSF training held at the 5th IPSF Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium in June 2006, 11 participants across the region were trained in building training sessions and providing training to others. IPSF will hold its second three-day training session in Cairns, Australia, July 10-12, 2006.

The Educational Forum and the Scientific Symposium of the 52nd IPSF Congress will bring together hundreds of pharmacy students worldwide to discuss Clinical Skills and Pharmacy Education and Provision of Health Care in Rural and Remote Settings. In addition to presentations of internationally recognised speakers, the Educational Forum will include interactive workshops while the Scientific Symposium will be flavoured with a Poster Exhibition for students to present their own research. The 52nd IPSF Congress programme also includes educational workshops on the Moving On projects, public health and professional development activities of IPSF. Educational programmes were also conducted at a regional level in the Asia-Pacific and Pan American areas.

In September 2005, IPSF was pleased to organise educational sessions at the 65th FIP Congress in Cairo, Egypt. Distinguished guest speakers presented at the FIP-IPSF Students' Day on Access and Equity. A joint session on Educating Pharmacists to Empower Patients was run with the FIP Academic Pharmacy Section. At the 66th FIP Congress in August 2006 in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, IPSF is involved in organising sessions on Learning for Practice and Community Pharmacy - Advancing Patient Care.

Pharmacy Education

IPSF maintained Operational Relations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and participated in numerous meetings of UNESCO in Paris, France.

The 33rd UNESCO General Conference took place in October 2005, the UNESCO NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO) Conference in December 2005, meetings of the UNESCO NGO Joint Programmatic Commission on Youth in February and June 2006, and a workshop of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge in April 2006. IPSF gained recognition for its Moving On II and III projects and was invited to share its experiences in promoting education and research. At the 52nd IPSF Congress IPSF will launch a statement to support the Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education adopted at the 33rd UNESCO General Conference.

This year's Phuture publication supplement focused on interdisciplinary collaboration in health care. Professionals in the field and pharmacy, medicine and nursing students were invited to write about and share their experiences in multi-disciplinary health care and education.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

9

Professional Development

Professional Development

Professional Development activities of IPSF were one of the most visible and recognised of the Federation.

IPSF and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) jointly launched the patient counselling booklet Counselling, Concordance and Communication - Innovative Education for Pharmacists at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany, in August 2005, and at the 65th FIP Congress in Cairo, Egypt, in September 2005.

The booklet gained enormous popularity and was used across the world to organise educational opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy students to develop their patient and medication counselling skills. IPSF Patient Counselling Events were organised in Australia, Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Japan, Nepal, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, and Taiwan, China. The booklet was also used for education reform in many countries. Following the successful launch of the booklet, it was translated into Chinese and is currently being translated into Japanese and Portuguese.

An IPSF Patient Counselling Event was organised at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany. More than 20 students were given an opportunity to practise their counselling skills. An even larger scale event will be organised at the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia, in July 2006. In September 2005 IPSF and the FIP Pharmacy Informational Section organised an interactive session on patient counselling at the 65th FIP Congress and this will be repeated in a new format at the 66th FIP Congress in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, in August 2006.

IPSF and the FIP Pharmacy Information Section were accepted to organise a patient counselling workshop at the International Social Pharmacy Workshop in July 2006 in Oxford, United Kingdom.

The workshop aims to facilitate a consultative process to develop new internationally recognised guidelines for patient counselling taking into account the concordant approach. The guidelines can be used as a tool through which greater understanding of the core elements of patient counselling and concordance can be achieved, taught, and practiced.

The IPSF Clinical Skills Event is used to develop team work and research skills in clinical pharmacy. Such events were organised in Croatia, Kuwait, Romania, Serbia, Thailand, and United Kingdom.

Promoting existing and potential roles of the pharmacist within health care systems and generating

10

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Professional Development

The 1st World Medical and Pharmacy Students' Symposium (WorldMaPS) was held in Malta in November 2005. Close to 200 pharmacy, medical and nursing students gathered to learn about multidisciplinary health care. The event was a joint initiative of IPSF, the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations, the European Pharmaceutical Students' Association, and the European Medical Students' Association. As a closure to the symposium, participants adopted a statement to promote collaborative health care and education. The 2nd World Healthcare Students Symposium (WorldHSS) will be held in Portugal in November 2007 with the International Nursing Student Network included as a partner.

IPSF member associations were encouraged to partner with other health profession students at local and national levels.

Multidisciplinary events and activities were held in Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

New three year plans of the IPSF Patient Counselling Event, IPSF Clinical Skills Event, and the Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign will be adopted at the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Professional Development

awareness of the profession amongst other health professionals and the public are the aims of the IPSF Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign. These campaigns were organised in Australia, Canada, Finland, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Nepal, Spain, The United States of America, and Taiwan, China.

In many countries these campaigns were conducted in conjunction with World Health Day activities.

11

Public Health

Public Health

In 2005-06 IPSF was increasingly active in promoting pharmacists' roles in public health. Throughout the year, IPSF worked closely with different departments of the World Health Organization (WHO).

IPSF distributed WHO resources to pharmacy students to enable them to implement public health activities at national and local levels. This served to familiarise pharmacy students with WHO policies.

IPSF participated in numerous meetings of WHO, including the 55th WHO Regional Meeting for Europe in September 2005, the 117th Session of the WHO Executive Board in January 2006, a WHO-NGO workshop on health promotion in February 2006 and the 59th World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2006. As a partner organisation of the WHO-NGO Advisory Group on Health Promotion, IPSF took part in organising the Advisory Group's briefing, entitled From Vision to Action: NGOs Promoting Health in a Globalized World, at the 59th WHA. In 2005-06, member associations of IPSF enthusiastically implemented AIDS Awareness Campaigns and conducted activities for World AIDS Day on December 1, 2005.

Campaigns or activities were conducted in Canada, France, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Nepal, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and The United States of America. IPSF teamed up with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to encourage pharmacy students to conduct activities related to HIV/AIDS and human rights.

These activities included fighting stigma and discrimination, and promoting universal access to anti-retroviral treatment.

IPSF will be represented at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, in August 2006.

The IPSF Healthy Living and Diabetes Campaign was launched at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, Germany, in August 2005. The Campaign aimed to increase awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle in the prevention and care of diabetes, encouraged a proactive rather than reactive approach to health promotion, and furthered the involvement of pharmacists in multi-disciplinary treatment initiatives. As part of the Campaign, the World Diabetes Day on November 14, with the theme Diabetes and Foot Care, was celebrated. Healthy Living and Diabetes Campaigns were successfully conducted in Canada, Egypt, Romania, Portugal, and United Kingdom.

It was the ongoing goal of IPSF to actively promote pharmacists' roles in the prevention, treatment, and control of tuberculosis (TB). The World TB Day 2006 on March 24 focused on the theme Actions for Life: Towards a World Free of Tuberculosis. Campaigns were implemented in Ghana, Indonesia, India, Latvia, Lithuania and Nepal. The Indian TB Fact Card Project, a joint initiative of IPSF, the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA) and the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA),

12

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Public Health successfully concluded in April 2006. The project involved more than 50 community pharmacies in Mumbai, India, taking an active role in the prevention and treatment of TB through patient education and medication counselling. An evaluation report of the project was published in May 2006 to coincide with the 59th WHA in Geneva, Switzerland. IPSF and CPA will continue to maintain and develop the TB web forum for pharmacists and pharmacy students, www.pharmacistsfighttb.org. Following numerous successful tuberculosis initiatives, the IPSF was honoured to be recognised within the Partners Highlight section of the Stop TB Partnership website throughout April 11-25, 2006.

Pharmacy students around the globe implemented innovative activities on World No Tobacco Day 2006 on May 31, with the theme Tobacco: Deadly in Any Form or Disguise. Excellent campaigns on tobacco control were carried out in Australia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Thailand, The United States of America, and Taiwan, China.

Based on the Code of Practice on Tobacco Control for Health Professional Organisations, the Federation developed the IPSF Code of Practice on Tobacco Control to encourage pharmacy students' associations to take more active roles in promoting a tobacco free world.

In May 2006, the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat and the WHO Department of Medicines Policy and Standards accepted two IPSF interns to work at their Geneva headquarters.

IPSF successfully negotiated for additional internship places for 2006 and beyond.

Public Health

On World Health Day, on April 7, IPSF raised awareness of the theme Working Together for Health. The theme encompassed health care workers' career choices, international migration and professional working conditions. Other IPSF projects, the Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign and the Moving On III research project, were promoted jointly with World Health Day. World Health Day activities were conducted by pharmacy students in Croatia, Nepal, Romania and Serbia.

IPSF will launch three year plans for its public health activities at the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia. These plans will outline the aims and objectives of the activities, and guide IPSF member associations to support health policies of WHO.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

13

Student Exchange Programme

S tudent Exchange Programme

14

Through the Student Exchange Programme (SEP) hundreds of students worldwide got opportunities to work in community, hospital, industrial, administrative or academic pharmacy in another country in order to learn about pharmacy education, research and practice outside their home nations.

The online Student Exchange Programme Database, launched in 2004, has allowed the programme to grow. This year, 43 member associations of IPSF actively took part in the programme from 40 countries, representing all regions.

As of June 2006, more than 600 students had applied for the Exchange Programme and 82% of them have already been placed at present time. The numbers of both applicants and placements were higher than ever and the figures are expected to increase towards the end of the year.

In May 2006 IPSF welcomed two interns to work at the IPSF Secretariat in The Hague, The Netherlands, to develop public health projects of IPSF, promote IPSF membership globally and participate in various meetings with the Executive Committee.

IPSF awarded Student Exchange Programme Grants to enable students from lower income countries to participate in the programme. In 2005-06 five students from Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic and Portugal received the grant.

In order to engage more countries in the Student Exchange Programme and to advise member associations in running the programme, the Student Exchange Committee will publish a new SEP guide booklet. With the help of the booklet and dozens of enthusiastic pharmacy students coordinating the programme at national and local levels, the IPSF Student Exchange Programme is expected to keep expanding and to offer more students a unique international learning experience.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Publications Publications were an important channel to effectively inform both members and external partners about the Federation and its developments. In 2005-06, the Executive Committee emphasised on the importance of frequent, high quality publications.

Two issues of the IPSF News Bulletin were published in December 2005 and May 2006. Without changing the characteristic design of the News Bulletin, it was improved to be more attractive to the reader. Different sections of the News Bulletin were more clearly divided. In addition, new guidelines for authors and editors were created in order to improve the editing process of the News Bulletin.

The new IPSF website launched in 2005 was further updated and developed, and now includes more advanced sections for events and for the Federation's Regional Offices (http://apro.ipsf.org; http://paro.ipsf.org). The IPSF website was viewed by 49000 viewers between October 2005 and May 2006. Despite the large number of viewers, the Executive Committee is continually investigating new ways to manage and maintain the website to be able to bring more timely updates to its members in the future.

Other publications in 2005-06 included electronic posters for World Diabetes Day and World AIDS Day in November and December 2005 respectively, the Phuture Supplement in June 2006, and the Annual Report 2005-06 to be launched at the 52nd IPSF Congress. This year IPSF also started a new IPSF 2 GO service through which messages about IPSF are sent straight to the mobile phones of IPSF Contact Persons in each member association.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Publications

Electronic IPSF Newsletters were e-mailed to thousands of pharmacy students with an average frequency of more than one issue per month. In September 2005, an IPSFNews e-group was created in order to bring the Newsletter for free to all students and partners interested in the federation.

15

The Regional Working Groups of the IPSF Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) and the IPSF Pan American Regional Office (PARO) have promoted IPSF and its activities at regional levels throughout the year, and brought together hundreds of pharmacy students in regional symposia. IPSF has also worked closely with the European Pharmaceutical Students' Association (EPSA), especially on the 1st World Medical and Pharmacy Students' Symposium and the 2nd World Healthcare Students' Symposium.

Organisations

Regional Of fices and Allied

Regional Offices and Allied Organisations

The 4th IPSF Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) took place in Tokyo, Japan, from 22nd to 27th August 2005.

Over 270 participants came from across the Asia Pacific region, and for the first time, Australian and Chinese delegates were present. The theme Public Health generated great interest in introducing current issues in infectious diseases in the region. Numerous workshops included sessions on HIV/AIDS, polio, tobacco control, diabetes and the role of a community pharmacist. The Regional Assembly elected a new APRO Regional Working Group and discussed strategies to improve the Regional Office. As a result, APRO decided to adopt the tobacco control campaign as an official campaign of the region.

The 5th IPSF APPS was held from 4th to 10th June 2006 in Bandung, Indonesia.

Prior to the 5th APPS, the first IPSF Training the Trainers session was successfully run, having 11 participants. A total of 272 students from 11 countries took part in the symposium itself. Participants expanded their knowledge about pharmacy through numerous symposia and workshops, and developed IPSF projects in the region. A special element during the 5th APPS was the Save the Passive Smoker campaign organised by APRO. All APPS participants, thousands of people, local radio and newspapers were present at the campaign. The Regional Assembly of the 5th APPS decided to continue promoting tobacco control as well as the Moving On II research project on pharmacy education.

The 6th IPSF APPS will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 18th to 25th July, 2007. Another highlight of the year in APRO was the establishment of collaboration with the International Federation of Medical Students' Association at a regional level.

The 5th IPSF Pan American Regional Symposium (PARS) was held in Quito, Ecuador, from 26th to 30th May 2006. 22 students from North and South America attended the symposium which consisted of the Regional Assembly as well as educational and cultural programmes. A variety of topics that ranges from developing medications from plants to nanotech-

16

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Regional Offices and Allied Organisations

The creation of African and Eastern Mediterranean Regional Offices will be discussed in the regional workshops of the 52nd IPSF Congress is Cairns, Australia.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Organisations

Representatives of IPSF took part in two official EPSA events: the 2nd EPSA Autumn Assembly in October 2005 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the 29th Annual EPSA Congress in April 2006 in Vilnius, Lithuania. In addition IPSF and ESPA met multiple times during the year. IPSF, EPSA and other partner organisations jointly organised the 1st World Medical and Pharmacy Students' Symposium (WorldMaPS) in Malta, November 2005. The 2nd World Healthcare Students' Symposium (WorldHSS) will be held in Portugal, November 2007. Following close collaboration in 2005-06, IPSF and EPSA will sign a new Memorandum of Understanding in July 2006 to formalise and further consolidate the good collaboration.

17

Regional Of fices and Allied

nology were presented. In order to improve communication and efficiency of the regional office, the Regional Assembly decided to create a regional newsletter and two regional committees: a Translation Committee and a PARS Development Committee.

IPSF Promotion

IPSF Promotion

Promoting IPSF to pharmacy students around the world, encouraging and supporting them in developing activities as well as building partnerships with professional partner organisations were of importance in the Federation. During the year 2005-06, members of the Executive Committee, regional working groups and sub-committees promoted IPSF and its activities in members' events, regional symposia, educational workshops, professional meetings and other events in the more than 25 countries worldwide:

18

Australia: Adelaide, Cairns, Hobart, Sydney Belgium: Brussels, Leuven Chile: Santiago, Pucon China: Shenyang Czech Republic: Prague Ecuador: Quito Egypt: Cairo, Alexandria Finland: Helsinki France: Angers, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Nantes, Paris, Rouen and Reims Germany: Halle-Saale India: Mumbai, Pune Indonesia: Bandung, Jakarta Japan: Tokyo Kenya: Nairobi Lithuania: Vilnius Malaysia: Penang Malta: St Paul's Bay The Netherlands: Amsterdam, The Hague, Oss, Utrecht, Zevenaar New Zealand: Hamilton Romania: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca Serbia: Novi Sad Singapore: Singapore Sweden: Gothenburg, Stockholm Switzerland: Geneva Thailand: Bangkok United Kingdom: Leeds, London, Oxford The United States of America: San Francisco Vietnam: Hanoi Six new member associations from the African, Eastern Mediterranean and South East Asian regions are expected to join IPSF at the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia.

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Acknowledgements IPSF is grateful to the following organisations for their generous support and contribution throughout 2005-06.

International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) European Union (EU)

School of Pharmacy, University of London

IPSF Annual Report 2005 - 2006

Acknowledgement s

Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA)

19