IPSF News Bulletin 37 May 2007

I N T E R N AT I O N A L P H A R M A C E U T I C A L S T U D E N T S ’ F E D E R AT I O N

May 2007, Issue 37 Print ISSN: 1024-0268 Online ISSN: 1728-2926

Table of Contents President’s Corner Current Affairs The Executive News and Views Nouvelles et Opinions Noticias News and Views (arabic) Public Relations Education and Practice Public Health Student Exchange Programme Reports Congresses IPSF APPS PARS FIP FAPA WHSS Regions Allied Organisations How to Get Involved in IPSF

2006-2007 IPSF Executive Committee

3 3 4 9 11 13 17 18 19 22 25 27

Audrey Clarissa President president@ipsf.org Juha Mönkäre Vice-president & Treasurer treasurer@ipsf.org Georgina Gál Secretary General secgen@ipsf.org

29 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Mohamed Atef Chairperson of Public Relations pr@ipsf.org Zhining Goh Chairperson of Education & Practice eduprac@ipsf.org Anna Watson Chairperson of Public Health publichealth@ipsf.org

IPSF Permanent Address IPSF Secretariat P.O.Box 84200 AE Den Haag The Netherlands Tel.:+31-70-302-1992 Fax: +31-70-302-1999 E-mail: ipsf@ipsf.org Webpage: http://www.ipsf.org

Annabelle McGowan Chairperson of Publications publications@ipsf.org Nataša Nikolić Chairperson of Student Exchange sep@ipsf.org

Editor-in-Chief: Annabelle McGowan

Karen McGill Chairperson of Pan-American Regional Office paro@ipsf.org

Design & Layout: Annabelle McGowan Copyright ©2007 by IPSF All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrival system or transcribed in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without written permission of IPSF. Printed in The Netherlands

John Nguyen Chairperson of Asia Pacific Regional Office apro@ipsf.org

Editorial Board - Translation FRENCH

Marie Bartakova

Jacinthe Lamoureux (& Christophe Auge)

ARABIC

Amira Metwaly & Ahmed M. Abdelaziz

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SPANISH

Sarah Adriance

Javier García

Sara Saelices Prellezo

Leidi Paez

President’s Corner Dear IPSFers, It is my great pleasure to write to you at such a very exciting time of our Federation. Over the past year IPSF has invested much time and energy in to developing collaboration with partner organisations. This year exciting developments have been achieved with new professional and student organisations.

IPSF has moved forward in strengthening relationships with professional partner organisations. I am very pleased to inform you that IPSF was granted ‘NGO in Roster Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations’ in July 2006. The Federation may now designate official representatives to the United Nations and we look forward to a productive relationship. This January, IPSF and FIP (International Pharmaceutical Federation) have signed a new collaboration agreement and we hope it will prove beneficial and that progressive collaboration will be achieved. IPSF has submitted its three year collaboration plan with WHO (World Health Organization). We are planning for more IPSF-WHO joint projects as this year the Health Promotion Department of WHO has also agreed to have IPSF interns in their department. The possibilities of collaboration with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ and Associations (IFPMA) are positive and will be developed in the future.

IPSF collaboration with other students’ organisations has progressed very well in the last few months. The first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IPSF and European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) was signed, as we hope that we will support each organisation. A new MoU with the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) was also signed. This is important for interdisciplinary collaboration. Moreover, IPSF together with IFMSA and other healthcare students’ organisations look forward to the World Healthcare Students’ Symposium this November in Portugal.

Our first Executive Committee Meeting in October 2006 was very productive and fruitful. At the moment the Student Exchange Programme continues to run smoothly, with new development underway. The newly merged position of Education and Practice is being developed, and is now a very large portfolio. Promotion to non-member countries is always ongoing, with visits to Eastern-Mediterranean countries a priority. We are improving Public Health campaigns through special editions of the IPSF Newsletter. And, I am happy to inform you that we are working hard to have our new IPSF website going live soon!

I am very excited to look to the months ahead, and your enthusiasm is our inspiration! I hope that you may expand your knowledge through this IPSF News Bulletin and get more involved in IPSF: the Federation that provides you with opportunities and needs your involvement!

I look forward to collaborating with you for a better future in pharmacy!

Audrey Clarissa President 2006-2007

Current Affairs Site Visit Taiwan Congress 2007 In February 2007, Audrey had the chance to visit Taipei to see the preparation for Taiwan Congress. The Reception Committee from PSA-Taiwan has put all their energy and effort for a memorable congress. It will be an unforgettable congress.

IFMSA March Meeting The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations had their March general assembly in Mandurah, Australia. Before the meeting, they held “Training the Trainers” where one IPSF-er was invited to join the session.

Mary Poon from Australia represented IPSF at the event and she has learnt many new things that can be useful to develop our training in IPSF.

IPSF-FIP Agreement A new agreement between IPSF and FIP for co-operation and mutual development was signed in April 2007 by Audrey, IPSF President and Ton Hoek, FIP General Secretary. The new agreement has four years validity. It was decided that FIP will help to support IPSF’s accountancy and we are going to strengthen our collaboration in the FIP congress. Following the IPSF-FIP agreement, it has been decided that FIP will support students who register to IPSF Congress by 100 euros, if they are also registered in FIP Congress in Beijing, 1-6 September 2007. The reimbursement will be given during IPSF Congress in Taiwan.

UNESCO Executive Board IPSF is part of the Joint Programmatic Commission on Youth (JPC on Youth) which unites international youth NGOs who have official relations with UNESCO. In the UNESCO Executive Board 12-13 April 2007, Audrey, on behalf of the JPC on Youth made an intervention that NGOs work in many UNESCO field of competence and we hope to improve communication with the national commissions and UNESCO regional offices so that we can avoid the duplication of work between NGOs and member states.

EPSA Congress: The Netherlands European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) held their annual congress 16-21 April 2007 in The Hague, Netherlands. IPSF was invited as an observer and we would like to congratulate EPSA on their new executive committee led by Oana Chirita from Romania.

WHO/IPSF Joint Statement on Tobacco Control IPSF together with WHO have made a strong commitment together in the fight against tobacco. On the 31st May 2007 WHO and IPSF launched a joint statement in accordance with the World No Tobacco Day theme : 100% Smoke Free Environment. Together let's achieve tobacco-free pharmacy and healthcare students in the future.

World Health Assembly World Health Assembly was held in May 2007 and IPSF was represented not only by IPSF Executive Committee but also by the IPSF intern from Canada, April Chan and IPSF CP for Ghana, Francis S. Banyi. In the meeting, IPSF together with IFMSA made a joint intervention about tuberculosis that we support the WHO resolution and we feel it is important not only to engage healthcare professionals but also to support multidisciplinary collaboration among them.

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The Executive President Hello all IPSFers, Warm wishes from Indonesia, the largest archipelago country in the world! It has been such a very exciting time for me so far serving the Federation at IPSF Headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

I have been involved in IPSF since 2004, when I was infected by the IPSF “virus” at the 3rd Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) in Bangkok, Thailand. It inspired me and my friends to support our local association HMF ‘Ars Praeparandi’ ITB to become part of IPSF as a Member in Association (MiA), and at the same time bidding to be the host of the 5th APPS in Bandung, Indonesia. I committed myself to be the 5th APPS Chairperson. This symposium in June 2006 went very smoothly and led me to run for election to serve the Federation as the President.

I have taken one year off my studies and I moved to IPSF Headquarters in The Hague in September 2006. It is my duty to ensure that the Federation runs smoothly together with the whole Executive Committee. During my term I have worked together with all IPSF executives to support their portfolios and also represented IPSF at various professional meetings in UNESCO, WHO and other professional and student organisation meetings. Maintaining and developing the collaboration with partner organisations is also one of my duties. This position allows me to experience working in the heart of an international organisation and to take necessary actions for the progress of pharmacy world.

Congress in Halifax, Canada in 2004.

Since July 2006 I have mainly focused in my portfolio on the EU Grant 2007 application and the further advancement of the IPSF Development Fund. The posting of the membership fee invoices and other tasks relating to the membership fees are an important part of Treasurer’s tasks especially in autumn. The treasurer also takes care of all daily financial matters of the Federation including the book-keeping and liaison with the bank. In the role of Vice President I have supported other executives and participated actively in the general tasks of the executive.

The position of the Treasurer will not be open in the 53rd IPSF Congress in Taiwan because the Secretary General and the Treasurer are elected biannually on alternate years. However the position will be open again in 2008. IPSF Treasurer should have experience in the field of treasury either in local or national students’ organisations and he or she should also be familiar with IPSF. The treasurer must have basic financial and administrative understanding but very advanced and deep experience is not necessary. You have to be able to work constantly throughout the year as e-mailing and the handling of the daily financial matters takes a total of approximately 10 to 20 hours per week. The position of IPSF Treasurer and a member of the executive gives you a unique opportunity to work in a global and international organisation and learn skills needed in the world of pharmacy over the coming years.

Juha Mönkäre Vice-president & Treasurer 2005-2008

Secretary General Fluency in oral and written English, good leadership and teamwork skills, negotiating skills and a broad and open mind are the requirements that I believe are essential during a presidential term. So…. if you love IPSF very much, you want to do something for pharmacy, and you have those required skills, you may consider being the next IPSF President =) Looking forward to working with all of you, our wonderful friends in pharmacy!

Yours in IPSF, Audrey Clarissa President 2006-2007

Vice-President & Treasurer I am a 24 year old pharmacy student who is graduating from the University of Kuopio in 2007 and will start PhD studies after graduation. My career in students’ organisations began in the Finnish Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (FiPSA) executive, I was the Treasurer in 2004 and the IPSF Contact Person in 2005. I was elected IPSF Treasurer in 2005 for a one year term and in 2006 for a two year term until 2008. I am also IPSF Vice President in 20062007. My first inspiring touch of IPSF was the 50th IPSF

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I am Georgina Gál, from Hungary, a small European country. I am a final year pharmacy student at Semmelweis University, Budapest. This is my fifth year working in IPSF, third year on the executive and second year as Secretary General and I still love working with multinational people, professional organisations and fellow student associations, preparing documents, brainstorming about various issues and attending exciting events in interesting places.

Last year the official documents of the Federation were updated by the Constitutional Working Party, new regulations have been worked out for the Development Fund and a new membership fee system was installed. This makes some of the executive’s job much easier this year.

Since the Cairns Congress, held in July 2006, I have worked on agendas for executive meetings, minutes and small adjustments to the official documents that will be proposed to the General Assembly at the next IPSF Congress in 2007. I have also taken on the job of compiling and sending out the Federation’s revamped e-newsletter every two weeks and attending to the main e-mail address of IPSF. I also had the wonderful opportunity to attend the new World Health Organization Director General election in Geneva and spend a day at the Autumn Assembly of the European

The Executive Pharmaceutical Students’ Association – quite busy but very enjoyable months!

Being the Secretary General is a very exciting position as it requires extensive knowledge about the Federation and all ongoing issues, therefore it gives an insight and overview of IPSF as a whole. It also requires a dedication to administrative matters as the Secretary General does a lot of background preparation. The Secretary General also leads the Constitutional Working Party. I can only encourage IPSF members to run for this position as it is fascinating and motivating to work as part of an international team in such an engaging position!

If you’d like to know more about the position of Secretary General please email me at secgen@ipsf.org Georgina Gál Secretary General 2005-2007

Chairperson of Public Relations Dear Friends in Pharmacy, I am Mohamed Atef from Egypt and I was elected as Chairperson of Public Relations at the 52nd IPSF congress in Cairns, Australia.

I am 22 years old and am currently studying in my eighth semester of the BSc program for pharmacy and biotechnology at the German University in Cairo. I hope to graduate in the winter of 2008 and then pursue a PhD in pharmacoeconomics/pharmacy administration in the USA. I live in the city of Cairo, which is the formal economical and political capital of Egypt….. if you are ever in Cairo drop me a line and you will have a tour guide free of charge.

My involvement in IPSF began when I was one of the founders of our local student association GUC-SPSA . I was always passionate about public relations work, I loved talking to people and getting to know new friends from different cultures and backgrounds thus I was the head of the public relations and fundraising committees of GUC-SPSA. During my term I also acted as student exchange officer and was part of the social program group of the student exchange committee.

The 2004 IPSF congress in Bonn was my first true exposure to IPSF. I can confidently say that I was infected by the IPSF ‘virus’ (sounds scary…. Don’t worry!) IPSF really stole my heart and I returned from Bonn full of enthusiasm, motivation and love of the Federation. I believed in the value of IPSF in pharmacy student life and was eager to be more involved.

During the next year we carried out many IPSF campaigns and projects in GUC-SPSA and we carried out projects in co-ordination with the national federation of pharmacy students in Egypt. Among my experiences in IPSF I have served as national co-ordinator of the Moving On III project and as a member of the IPSF financial committee. In May 2006 I had the pleasure to be selected as an intern in the IPSF secretariat in The Hague for one month where I gained the real perspective of IPSF work, met IPSF members and the executive, and worked on IPSF projects. This all inspired me to take a bigger role in

IPSF and run for the executive in Cairns.

This year a significant part of my portfolio will include speaking on behalf of IPSF at different events, promoting IPSF activities, initiatives and projects, liasing with the executive and member countries (through my beloved CPs) and travelling to represent pharmacy students (YOU!) at events. So if you are organising events in your country please invite me!

I’d love to be there!

The year started really early. After a fabulous time on the post congress tour in Australia (thanks to the WONDERFUL Aussie tripod – Tony, Tara & Clair) I travelled to the land of Samba (Brazil) to attend the FIP congress as FIP staff. I helped to promote IPSF to Brazilian students and students from other South American countries. Since then I have had a fabulous time in the Netherlands and Belgium, attended executive meetings in Den Haag, the Europe for Patients conference in Ghent, KNPSV International Night in Groningen and met VFSA representatives in Brussels. Also I have promoted IPSF at the “Global Forum for Health” in Cairo and the Egyptian Pharmaceutical Students Federation conference.

Representing IPSF never stops!

I am now multi-tasking finalising the setup of the Membership Promotion Committee (if you’re interested in joining, just email me!), keeping in touch with CPs and preparing for my next trip.

Part of the main focus of my portfolio this year is to increase IPSF membership in South America, Africa and the Middle East and to establish a foundation or initiative for an Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO). I am already in contact with student associations from the region (United Arab Emirates, Iran, Lebanon, Tunis, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria and Jordon) some of which may apply for IPSF membership in Taiwan. I also hope to help members who are in debt to retain their membership and to assist those who have lost membership to regain it.

Finally, I want to say I cannot wait to see all my friends and IPSFers at the congress in Taiwan! Until then – don’t forget about the friendship….

Mohamed Atef Chairperson of Public Relations 2006-2007

Chairperson of Educations & Practice Dear IPSFers, Greetings from Singapore!

My name is Zhining and I’m 23 years old. I graduated in June 2006 and am now undergoing pre-registration training in hospital pharmacy. I’ve attended three IPSF congresses since Halifax 2004 and held the post of Education Director in NUSPS, my local association in 2004-05. I had the pleasure of chairing the IPSF Moving On II Research Group and being a research co-ordinator for Moving On III last year. I am very glad to be able to contribute to the success of the project and it has been enriching learning about education and workforce issues around the globe from the other research group members.

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The Executive The portfolios of Pharmacy Education and Professional Development have been merged into one - Education and Practice. I believe that the education of a pharmacist has every little bit to do to prepare him/her for practice and other professional activities and I hope all IPSF members can strive to bring IPSF’s educational and professional initiatives to greater heights.

The first half of this term has been extremely busy and exciting! IPSF’s sessions at the 66th International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) World Congress went extremely well and our sessions for the 67th Congress were planned. Discussion with FIP to increase collaboration and student presence is ongoing and productive. IPSF representatives have been appointed to work with the FIP Pharmacy Information Section to develop more patient counselling resources as we receive news that the Portuguese translation of the FIP/IPSF patient counselling booklet is expected to be completed soon.

A sexennial questionnaire to be filled out by NGOs who wish to continue holding official relations with UNESCO was submitted in September 2006. IPSF was also the only NGO who submitted an activity report for promotional purposes which was included in a CD distributed to all UNESCO contacts at their Executive Board meeting earlier in the same month.

With our new Roster Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council, IPSF representatives to the UN buildings worldwide have been appointed. In addition, IPSF has signed up to be a partner of Pharmine, a networking initiative of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP).

Data collection for Moving On continues and reimbursement will be offered in a last bid to aid enthusiastic developing countries in running the projects. A publication plan for Moving On II has been worked out. A Young Health Researcher Award was launched in Cairo, Egypt in October 2006, a joint effort by IPSF, IFMSA, the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) and the Global Forum for Health. Our request for IPSF to participate in IFMSA’s established Training New Trainers workshop before their next March Meeting in Australia was also granted.

I represented IPSF at the 3rd EPSA Autumn Assembly in Vienna, Austria in October 2006 where we met up with the EPSA officials to discuss evaluating the “Pharmacy Education – A Vision of the Future” joint document published in 1999, as well as at the UNESCO Global Colloquium on Research in Paris, France in November 2006.

As I write this, plans for an IPSF campaign booklet, a joint effort by the Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign (PPAC) and Public Health are underway. Workshops and symposia programmes for the upcoming IPSF congress are being finalised while Phuture is also ready for design and print.

Collaboration with UNESCO’s youth and higher education sections as well as IFMSA is being looked into, and publication of the interim results of Moving On II is ongoing.

For those of you thinking about running for this Executive position The Chairperson of Education and Practice is responsible for co-ordinating and developing educational and professional

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development opportunities for the Federation. Your portfolio encompasses patient counselling, clinical skills, training as well as PPAC, and you are expected to provide support and advice to members running related events. You are also expected to co-ordinate the publication of Phuture, IPSF’s annual scientific supplement, and to oversee the Federation’s Moving On research projects. In addition you will also organise the Education Symposium and related workshops and events at the annual IPSF Congress and aid the organising of Scientific Symposia and Poster Exhibitions at Congress and regional events.

As Chairperson of Education and Practice you are also liaison to the FIP Board of Pharmaceutical Practice (BPP) and to UNESCO. You are responsible for organising joint sessions at the annual FIP congress and to develop collaboration with BPP sections and with UNESCO. This position would suit someone who has a significant amount of interest in and awareness of educational, practice and social trends and issues relating to the profession at international and regional levels. Past involvement in IPSF, the ability to work independently and comfort with public speaking are a must.

Previous experience in organising campaigns or events and multi-tasking or good time management skills are beneficial.

People intending to run for this position are highly encouraged to consider attending the next FIP Congress in Beijing, China in September 2007. The opportunity to chair the FIPIPSF Students’ Day session awaits!

While the portfolio of Education and Practice is not one that is often directly in the public’s eye, it is one of boundless opportunities for you to explore for IPSF and the profession.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to find out more.

Cheerios, Zhining Goh Chairperson of Education and Practice 2006-07

Chairperson of Public Health Greetings IPSFers!

My name is Anna Watson, I’m 25 years old and qualified as a pharmacist in 2004. Since this time I have been working as a hospital pharmacist in one of the large teaching hospitals in London, UK. I first really became involved in IPSF when I attended my first IPSF Congress in Budapest, 2002. Since that first experience I have become more and more active in IPSF – serving as vice president and CP for my national association and IPSF Development Fund co-ordinator. I am now honoured to be greeting you as IPSF Chairperson of Public Health 2006-2007!

Since being elected I have worked hard to co-ordinate the four official public health campaigns of IPSF. These are: Healthy Living and Diabetes, HIV/AIDS Awareness, TB

The Executive Campaign, & Tobacco Alert Campaign. You can read more about these in later pages! I also chair the public health subcommittee and work closely with them to support and encourage member associations in their public health campaigns. We aim to increase the number of associations participating in IPSF public health initiatives. Other tasks I have completed so far include drawing up a three-year collaboration plan on public health between IPSF and the World Health Organisation (WHO). This was submitted in December 2006 and I have also represented IPSF at oth WHO events, including the Executive Board meeting in January and the World Health Assembly in May. If you are interested in becoming more involved in the public health initiatives of IPSF, read on – the achievements of our members so far are truly inspiring! Also contact me at publichealth@ipsf.org for further information.

Do you consider yourself to be a motivator? Do you enjoy demonstrating organisational skills? These are just two of the qualities that I believe are required to serve as IPSF Chairperson of Public Health. If you are a person who would like to take your involvement and interest in both public health and IPSF to the highest level, why not consider running for this position at the next IPSF elections? Why not drop me a line at publichealth@ipsf.org if you’d like to know more about this unique and truly rewarding opportunity!

Best wishes, Anna Watson Chairperson of Public Health 2006-2007

Chairperson of Publications Greetings from New Zealand and Ireland!!

I am Annabelle McGowan, a 25 year young pharmacist from New Zealand.

I am a registered community pharmacist in 3 countries and currently live and work full time in Ireland.

I first became involved in IPSF while studying at the University of Otago in New Zealand. During my final year at pharmacy school I attended the 49th IPSF World Congress in Singapore 2003. Since then I have attended congresses in Bonn, Germany in 2005 and Cairns, Australia in 2006 and I will keep going to them until I’m told I’m too old!

It is my great pleasure to serve the Federation as Chairperson of Publications for 2006-2007.

This year has brought many many challenges for me and I have learnt many new skills. I can now use 5 different software packages, which I’d never seen before I was elected and I have found within myself a creative side I never really realized existed!

My foray into the world of publications began with small projects such as designing the executive committee business cards and the IPSF greeting card and has progressed on to the much bigger challenges of the new IPSF website and this fantastic wee publication you are reading.

The most exciting news I have to share is that after a long process of tenders we have chosen the company, Yadabyte Ltd, to redesign our website. The work completed on the new site so far is very impressive and we hope to have it live online soon. In the meantime I very much apologise for the current website being out of date.

Besides being creative I have travelled!! I represented IPSF at the WHO Joint Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property in Geneva, Switzerland with Chairperson of Public Health, Anna Watson in December.

It was also a fantastic experience to attend the European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association Autumn Assembly in Vienna, Austria in October. I have also had the greatest fortune to visit many of my IPSF friends in France, England, Singapore, Canada, The Netherlands and Ireland.

The next few months are going to be very busy ones. You can look forward to seeing the 2006-2007 Annual Report and the Phuture Supplement published soon and don’t forget to keep an eye out for the FABULOUS new IPSF website at the end of June!!!!!!!

I am also looking forward spending a few months at home in New Zealand before heading to Taiwan for the 3rd and final executive meeting and congress.

Until then, consider if you have what it takes to be Chairperson of Publications….. you must LOVE IPSF, be good with computers and preferably proficient with publishing software such as Adobe Photoshop and others. However, it is possible to learn it all as you go along like I have. It helps if you are fluent in English and you would definitely need a computer! It feels great to be contributing to something as special as IPSF and I have very much enjoyed discovering my long lost creativity! If you are interested in the position please email me at publications@ipsf.org for more details.

All the best! See you in Taiwan!

Yours in IPSF Annabelle McGowan Chairperson of Publications 2006-2007

Chairperson of Student Exchange Programme (SEP) Hey hey dear IPSFers all around the world, My IPSF career started 3 years ago, when I became SEO for NAPSer – Serbia. After having an amazing time at Congresses in Bonn (2005) and in Cairns (2006), I’ve started this year with even greater enthusiasm. This increased when I realized what an amazing team I have in my Student Exchange Committee (SEC). I want to thank them for all the work they have done so far Ioana Stupariu (Romania), Javier García Sánchez Valdepeñas (Spain), Veronica Sumpichova (Czech Republic), Sara Saelices Prellezo (Spain), Inka Vuolanto (Finland),Marko Niketić (Serbia), Anna Anasztázia Szekeres (Hungary), Catia Cristina Afonso Gonçalves (Portugal), Doti Parameswari (Indonesia).

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The Executive A huge thanks goes to Ex-Chairperson of SEP Irena Subova for her great support.

New associations :Since “I” stands for International, we are very proud to welcome new associations to the SEP family. At the 52nd Congress in Cairns, the General Assembly has welcomed the following associations: Egypt GUC-SPSA: German University in Cairo – Student Pharmaceutical Association Israel ASRN: Health Sciences Students' Association of the Negev MPSA Macedonia: Macedonian Pharmaceutical Students' Association SNAPS Sweden: Swedish National Association For Pharmacy Students SAPSF South Africa: South African Pharmaceutical Students Federation All associations are already very active, working hard on their promotion and finding hosts for future exchange students.

Places will mostly be available in Community pharmacy and at Faculty Departments, which will give interested students a choice.

SEP interactive map: SEP online now offers a new interactive map which will give information about each country in a very easy, dynamic way. I believe presenting SEP information like this will inspire us all to find more opportunities and more quality places for exchange students. The SEC is working on improving the new map to include more information for students and SEOs. SEC and I have worked hard on improving the database as well, which is now more suitable for SEOs. (automatic messages for SEOs and students, downloadable documents, duties, privileges, warnings etc.). These changes are already speeding things up.

Statistics: Producing detailed statistics will give us all more information on how are we doing things, and where things can be improved. SEP offers experiences in several different types of pharmacy practice around the world. It is a pleasure to see that there are more offers of a combination of training (5%), as well as an increase in Hospital (10%) and Industry (10%) places. Most often pharmacy students are placed in large community pharmacies(60%), and in different Departments of Faculty (15%) (Pharmacology, Drug control, Biology, Pharmaceutical Industry etc.).

Guidelines: As we all are different, but with the same goal, this year the SEC and I are working on making more precise guidelines and training documents to help new Student Exchange Officers to join the SEP world.

SEC meeting and SEP grant: One of the topics the SEC discussed at their meeting in Belgrade in April was the SEP grant which is a very important part of SEP. The objective of the Student Exchange Grant is to allow pharmacy students with limited financial resources the opportunity to participate in the IPSF Student Exchange Programme. This is achieved by providing them with a travel subsidy to help cover costs incurred through the purchase of travel tickets to their host country of preference, while exempting them from payment of the student exchange application fee. This years dead line was 1st of March. The procedure was simple, with students

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sending Application Forms on line. We have received 32 applications from 10 different countries. During SEC meeting we will come up with the final list of students who will be granted.

Keeping such a huge programme like IPSF student exchange available requires good organisation and strategy. From now until the end of my term, I’ll be working hard to revise the Training Manual for SEOs and draw up guidelines for LEOs (Local Exchange Officers). My work will also concentrate on improving evaluation forms which provide very valuable feedback information from exchange participants. For sure one of my main tasks will be to continue training new SEOs for SEP and working closely with PARO and APRO in order to promote and increase the number of SEP countries.

At the end what to say – how to describe SEP? Incredible and impressive, a unique way to put together knowledge and adventure. I would recommend it to everyone “Let's SEP”, because the whole world is our playground.

Hoping to see you all in Taiwan!

Nataša Nikolić Chairperson of Student Exchange 2006-07

Chairperson of Regional Office

Pan-American

I am Karen McGill from United States of America. I graduated from university in May 2006 and am now a fully qualified pharmacist. I am currently doing a community pharmacy residency in the United States.

I have been active in IPSF since my first World Congress in Singapore in 2003. I have attended every World Congress and PanAmerican Regional Symposium since then, and have represented IPSF at the United Nations and the first World Medical and Pharmacy Students’ Symposium in Malta. I was re-elected to serve a second term as Pan-American Regional Chairperson at the 2006 Pan-American Regional Symposium (PARS) in Ecuador.

Progress has been made through teamwork with the PanAmerican Regional Working Group: Myself (Chairperson), Javier Logrono (Relations Officer), Cecilia Becerra (Secretary), and Yvette Garcia (Internal Communications Officer).

The main goals for the region are to increase participation and membership in IPSF. To accomplish this, the Regional Working Group has created two new committees, an email partnership between North and South American students, and the first regional newsletter.

I look forward to seeing everyone at PARS and at congress!!

Karen McGill Chairperson of Pan-American Regional Office 2005-2007

The Executive

News & Views

Chairperson of Asia Pacific Regional Office

IPSF granted ECOSOC status

I first became involved with student organisations as a first year pharmacy student in 2003 at the Victorian College of Pharmacy, Melbourne, Australia. I have served as local president of VPSA and been involved with NAPSA (Australia) on several sub-committees since 2004, including Chairperson of the Reception Committee for NAPSA Congress hosted in Melbourne, January 2007. My first IPSF experience was at the 51st world congress in Bonn 2005 as an official delegate. Shortly after this I attended the 4th APPS Tokyo congress and was elected as Secretary of the Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) from 2005-2006. I was recently elected as Chairperson of APRO in June at 5th APPS in Indonesia, after also attending the 52nd IPSF congress in Cairns, and hope to serve IPSF to the best of my abilities and have fun with international students in sharing the IPSF spirit.

IPSF received Roster Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) in July 2006. ECOSOC is a forum that assists the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and consists of 54 UN Member States. It discusses various issues in the field of economical and social issues including standards of living, employment, social and economical progress, international cultural and educational cooperation and human rights. ECOSOC can initiate and compile studies and reports, assist in organisation and preparation of international conferences, advise Member States and formulate policy recommendations. It also coordinates various UN organisations from UN programmes to specialized agencies that include, among others, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). IPSF has had official relations with WHO and operational relations with UNESCO for some time and these relations will not be affected by the ECOSOC status.

So far since being elected at in June 2006, our APRO team has worked hard together whilst enjoying our time. A brief summary of our activities can be found in the APRO corner ofthis News Bulltin as well as on the APRO website http://apro.ipsf.org I highly encourage other members to be more involved with IPSF-APRO, because it is a great chance to enjoy university life, share experiences with like-minded students and have fun! I think the most important thing about fulfilling this role in APRO is to be organised, sensible and creative. And because we are all volunteer students serving for the same purpose, don’t forget to enjoy your time in IPSF and have fun! The greatest thing is making new friends around the world who share the same passion.

If anyone has any questions about our activities or being involved please email apro@ipsf.org John Nguyen Chairperson of Asian Pacific Regional Office 2006-2007

Your Executive 2006-2007

ECOSOC has granted consultative status to 2800 non-governmental organisations (NGO) like IPSF to support its work by serving as technical experts, adviser or consultants. NGOs having Roster Consultative Status have a narrower focus on the agenda of ECOSOC while the NGOs having wider focus may be granted General or Special Consultative Status.

Roster Consultative Status also means that IPSF can attend various UN meetings, designate UN representatives and be invited to UN international conferences.

WHO/FIP Handbook “Developing Pharmacy Practice: a Focus on Patient Care” The role of the pharmacist has evolved from that of a manufacturer and supplier of pharmaceutical products towards that of a provider of services and information and ultimately that of a provider of patient care. The handbook “Developing Pharmacy Practice: a Focus on Patient Care” is designed to meet these changing needs. It was launched on 21 November 2006 at WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. IPSF was invited to support the handbook launch together with WHO and FIP. New pharmacists should have the knowledge and skills needed to take up their new role and responsibilities and to function as collaborative members of the health care team. This handbook provides a basic knowledge of pharmacy practice with practical information and examples.

This handbook is just a first step towards developing our profession. Further steps will be taken soon as ‘field testing’ of this handbook in pharmacy schools around the world gets underway. Through the field testing programme, we hope to measure the teaching process before and after using this handbook. The result of this ‘field-testing’ shall be evaluated to give feedback on what we should do in the future.

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News & Views There will be a call from WHO/FIP for pharmacy schools to participate in this programme and IPSF has committed to supporting this project. So, if you want to improve our profession, encourage your school of pharmacy to participate in this programme! This is your time……

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Audrey at president@ipsf.org

WHO Executive Board Meeting The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board Meeting was held in Geneva from 22nd – 30th January 2007.

Audrey and Anna were in Geneva to represent IPSF. Among public health subjects discussed in this meeting were malaria, TB, prevention and control in non-communicable diseases and rational use of medicines.

Regarding malaria, WHO is concerned that malaria continues to cause more than one million preventable deaths a year and action needs to be taken by many countries to combat the disease and achieve the Millennium Development Goals for Malaria.

The Executive Board recommends the 60th World Health Assembly, to be held in May 2007, to establish World Malaria Day on 25th April.

During the discussion on non-communicable diseases, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) made an intervention to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration among the health care team including the role of pharmacists.

While in Geneva, IPSF was able to meet with contacts previously established within WHO to inform them of IPSF members’ activities and to discuss further collaboration. Such discussions included a new action for implementing the IPSF Code of Practice on Tobacco Control as well as making preparations for World Health Day 2007. The week was very productive for IPSF and we look forward to strengthening the collaboration with WHO throughout the year.

New IPSF-IFMSA-COHRED Collaboration - Building the Next Generation of Researchers for Health In 2005 IPSF, the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) and the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) embarked on a collaboration to examine the roles they could play in helping to build the next generation of research leaders. The lack of funding opportunities for health researchers early in their careers was identified, and this was considered particularly difficult for researchers in applied fields and from Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Research from the agricultural sector has shown that providing promising young LMIC researchers with grants can help foster a successful career path, contribute to their leadership potential and increase the likelihood that they will pursue their careers in their home countries.

At the 10th Global Forum for Health Research in Cairo, Egypt in November 2006, the collaboration hosted an open session to elicit the views of conference participants on a proposal to

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establish a funding scheme for early career researchers directed towards “research for health”. A core component of the proposal was to broaden the scope of the scheme to cover career development, rather than just research capacity, by including formal mentoring and leadership training. In the ensuing debate, experiences with a range of initiatives to strengthen career development for young researchers were described, including internships as a channel for gaining research experience, conference attendance to showcase their work and raise awareness, qualification-based grant schemes for masters and doctorate level study, and postdoctoral and research fellowship programmes.

The response from participants was strongly in favour of the collaboration further examining the feasibility of the concept, in particular on issues around effective factors supporting career development. The collaboration is currently researching and creating an evaluative evidence base on existing young health researcher programmes and the impact of mentorship/training schemes on research capacity and productivity.

The results of this evidence-gathering exercise will be presented at the next Global Forum meeting in Beijing, China in 2007. It will aim to bring together a panel of research funders from both high, and low and middle-income countries to respond to the findings and seed the debate.

If you wish to find out more about this initiative, please contact the collaboration at nextgeneration@cohred.org.

Update on Moving On II: Pharmacy Curricula and the Student Learning Experience This is the third and final year that the Moving On II project will be run. Efforts are being made to increase the number of countries participating in the project as well as the accuracy of the study results. For now, seven new countries are expected to submit data, five countries are expected to improve data collection and Japan has already submited 1500 responses in October 2006. Our special thanks to the whole Research Group and good luck to the countries running the project! Parallel to this, publications of the interim results presented at the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns and 66th FIP Congress in Brasil are being coordinated by Zhining Goh. As much interest and attention has been generated among pharmacy academics worldwide, plans to develop Moving On II into a longitudinal study to track global changes in pharmacy education are being worked out.

Any country still interested in running the project please contact Pedro Lucas, MOII Chair, at pedro.t.lucas@gmail.com. Data collection is scheduled to end in mid-April 2007.

Moving On III Research Project The Moving On III Research Project was launched at the 51st IPSF Congress in Bonn, 2006 and since then has involved the collection and analysis of data on the intention of pharmacy students to migrate abroad from nine different countries.

800 responses were collected in the pilot round in 2006. At present the questionnaire is being revised in preparation for the second round of data collection from over 20 countries.

News & Views The pilot results raise important issues on the intention to migrate and challenges the notion that the main driver for migration is money. As expected, the extent of the intention to migrate varies greatly between countries but also interestingly, within countries. What is also interesting to note is that the type of migration planned by students varies significantly between temporary (two years or less) and more permanent migration depending on the country and university.

The more content pharmacy students are with the pharmacy practice and social/political environment in their own countries as well as the opportunities for career and economic development, the more likely they are to stay in their home country or migrate temporarily with the intention of return.

The preliminary results have generated interest amongst many international organisations and were presented along with other findings at the International Health Workforce Conference to be held in Geneva, March 2007.

Now is your opportunity for your university and country to become involved in this unique project. Data collection for the second and final round of the project will be completed in March/April 2007 and we would very much like to have as much of the globe represented as possible. If you are interested in taking part or to find out more feel free to contact Tana Wuliji, MO III Chair: twuliji@varsity.co.nz

Internship Opportunities IPSF has been making progress with developing internship opportunities for our members. Currently, IPSF has internship places at the Medicines Policy and Standards Department of WHO and the Stop TB Partnership. These internships are offered throughout the year and IPSF members are welcome to apply at anytime. However, internships are only available for IPSF members who are still undertaking study, be it at undergraduate or post-graduate level.

IPSF is also offering its members the opportunity of an internship at IPSF Headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. The interns will have a chance to learn how the Federation runs and take part in IPSF projects including the IPSF history book.

For further information about either of these internship opportunities please contact president@ipsf.org IPSF has recently discussed new opportunities for internships in the Health Promotion Unit and the Department of HIV/AIDS at WHO. Please look out for further information regarding these new opportunities.

We have also established a contact with the Communicable Diseases Cluster in WHO and think this is a possible area for collaboration between IPSF and WHO in the future.

We hope to be able to inform you about this soon.

Nouvelle et Opinions IPSF reçoit le statut ECOSOC L’IPSF a reçu le statut Consultatif au Conseil Économique et Social des Nations Unies (ECOSOC) en juillet dernier. L’ECOSOC est un forum qui aide l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies (l'ONU) et se compose de 54 Etats Membres de l'ONU. Il discute de diverses questions sur des sujets économiques et sociaux comprenant des normes sur la vie quotidienne, l'emploi, le progrès social et économique, la coopération culturelle et éducative internationale et les droits de l'homme. L'ECOSOC peut lancer et compiler des études et des rapports, aide dans l'organisation et la préparation des conférences internationales, conseille des Etats Membres et formule des recommandations de politique générale. Il coordonne également divers organismes de l'ONU, de programmes de l'ONU aux institutions spécialisées qui incluent, entre d'autres, l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS), et l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’Éducation, la Sciences et la Culture (UNESCO). L’IPSF a déjà le statut de relation officielle avec l’OMS et le statut de relation opérationnelle avec l’UNESCO et ces statuts ne sont pas affectés par ce nouveau lien ECOSOC. ECOSOC a accordé le statut consultatif à 2800 organisations non gouvernementales (O.N.G.) comme IPSF pour soutenir son travail en servant d'experts, de conseillers ou de conseillers techniques. Les O.N.G.s ayant le statut consultatif de rôle ont un focus plus étroit à l'ordre du jour de l'ECOSOC tandis que l’on peut accorder aux O.N.G.s ayant un focus plus large le statut consultatif général ou spécial. Le statut consultatif de rôle signifie également que IPSF peut assister à diverses réunions de l'ONU, être représentants désignés de l'ONU et être invités aux conférences internationales de l'ONU.

Livre de référence OMS/FIP: « Développer la pratique de la pharmacie : concentrons-nous sur le soin au patient ».

Le rôle du pharmacien a évolué de celui d'un fabricant et d'un fournisseur de produits pharmaceutiques vers celui d'un fournisseur de services et d'informations et finalement de celui d'un fournisseur de soins au patient. Le livre de référence : « Développer la pratique de la pharmacie : concentrons-nous sur le soin au patient » est conçu pour satisfaire ces besoins changeants. Il a été lancé le 21 novembre 2006 aux sièges sociaux de l'OMS, à Genève, en Suisse. L’IPSF a été invitée pour prendre part au lancement de ce manuel avec l'OMS et la FIP. Les nouveaux pharmaciens devraient avoir la connaissance et les qualifications pour prendre leur nouveau rôle et responsabilités et pour fonctionner comme membres à part entière de l'équipe de santé. Ce manuel fournit les connaissances de base de la pratique pharmaceutique (les soins pharmaceutiques) avec de nombreuses informations et exemples pratiques.

Ce manuel est juste la première étape vers le développement

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Nouvelle et Opinions de notre profession. D'autres mesures seront prises bientôt comme des « essais pratiques » de ce manuel dans des facultés de pharmacie de par le monde. Par le programme mis au point lors de ces essais, nous espérons mesurer le processus d’enseignement avant et après l’emploi de ce manuel. Le résultat de ces « essais pratiques » sera évalué pour donner du feedback sur ce que nous devrions faire à l'avenir.

Une invitation sera bientôt lancée par l’OMS/FIP aux facultés de pharmacie afin qu’elles participent à ce programme et IPSF s’est engagé à soutenir ce projet. Donc, si vous voulez améliorer notre profession, encouragez votre faculté de pharmacie à participer à ce programme. C’est à votre tour de passer le flambeau…

Pour de plus amples informations, n’hésitez pas à contacter Audrey à president@ipsf.org

Réunion du Conseil Executif de l’OMS La réunion du conseil exécutif de l'organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) s’est tenue à Genève du 22 au 30 janvier 2007. Audrey et Anna étaient à Genève pour représenter l’IPSF. Les sujets de santé publique discutés lors de cette réunion étaient la malaria, la tuberculose, la prévention et le contrôle dans les maladies non-contagieuses et l'utilisation rationnelle des médicaments.

Concernant la malaria, l'OMS est concernée par le fait que cette maladie continue de causer plus d'un million de décès évitables chaque année et des mesures doivent être prises par beaucoup de pays pour combattre la maladie et pour atteindre les objectifs de développement du millénaire pour la malaria. Le conseil exécutif recommande à la 60e Assemblée de santé du monde, qui aura lieu en mai 2007, d’établir la journée mondiale de la malaria au 25 avril.

Pendant la discussion sur les maladies non-contagieuses, la Fédération Pharmaceutique Internationale (FIP) a fait une intervention pour encourager la collaboration multidisciplinaire parmi les professionnels de santé incluant le rôle des pharmaciens.

D’autre part, à Genève, l’IPSF a pu rencontrer des contacts précédemment établis au sein de l'OMS pour les informer des activités des membres de l'IPSF et pour discuter davantage de leur collaboration. De telles discussions ont inclus une nouvelle action pour mettre en application le recueil d'instructions d'IPSF sur le contrôle du tabac aussi bien que pour préparer la journée mondiale de la santé 2007. La semaine a été très productive pour l’IPSF et nous espérons vraiment renforcer la collaboration avec l'OMS tout au long de l'année.

Nouvelle collaboration IPSF-IFMSA-COHRED – Bâtir la Prochaine Génération de Chercheurs de Santé En 2005, l’IPSF, la Fédération Internationale des Associations d'Etudiants en Médecine (IFMSA) et le Conseil sur la Recherche de Santé pour le Développement (COHRED) se sont mis d’accord pour une collaboration afin d’examiner les rôles qu’ils pourraient jouer en aidant à établir la prochaine

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génération des leaders de la recherche. Le manque de subventions pour les chercheurs de santé au début de leurs carrières a été identifié, et ceci a été considéré comme particulièrement difficile pour les chercheurs dans les domaines appliqués et originaires de pays de bas et moyen revenu (LMICs). La recherche dans le secteur agricole a prouvé que fournir des bourses aux jeunes chercheurs prometteurs des LMIC peut aider à adopter une voie de carrière réussie, à contribuer à leur potentiel de leadership et à augmenter la probabilité qu'ils poursuivront leurs carrières dans leurs pays d'origine.

Au 10ème forum global pour la recherche de santé au Caire, en Egypte en novembre 2006, la collaboration a accueilli une session publique pour obtenir les points de vues des participants de la conférence sur une proposition de mise en place de subventions pour les jeunes chercheurs orientés vers la « recherche pour la santé ». Une composante essentielle de la proposition était d'élargir la portée de la subvention pour couvrir le développement de la carrière professionnelle, plutôt qu’uniquement la capacité de recherche elle-même, en incluant la formation de leadership et de mentorat. Au cours du débat qui a suivi, des expériences avec une gamme d’initiatives pour renforcer le développement de la vie professionnelle des jeunes chercheurs ont été décrites, y compris des stages comme source d’expérience de recherche, la participation à des conférences pour présenter les travaux, des bourses basées sur la qualification pour les masters et les doctorats, et des programmes post-doctoraux de recherche.

La réponse des participants était fortement en faveur de la collaboration, examinant la praticabilité du concept, en particulier sur des questions autour des facteurs efficaces soutenant le développement de la vie professionnelle. La collaboration est actuellement créative et fait des recherches sur une base évaluative des programmes existants pour les jeunes chercheurs de santé et sur l'impact des programmes de formation sur la capacité et la productivité de la recherche.

Les résultats de cet exercice seront présentés lors de la prochaine réunion du forum global à Pékin, en Chine en 2007.

Elle visera à rassembler un groupe de sponsors de recherche des pays à haut revenu, et des pays à bas et moyen revenu pour répondre aux résultats et pour lancer le débat.

Si vous souhaitez découvrir plus au sujet de cette initiative, contactez SVP la collaboration à nextgeneration@cohred.org.

Mise à jour sur le Moving On II: L’éducation en Pharmacie et l’expérience de l’apprentissage des étudiants C'est la troisième et dernière année que le projet Moving On II sera mené. Des efforts sont faits pour augmenter le nombre de pays participants au projet mais aussi pour s’assurer de l'exactitude des résultats de l'étude. Pour l’instant, on s'attend à ce que sept nouveaux pays soumettent des données, on s'attend à ce que cinq pays améliorent la collecte de données et le Japon a déjà soumis 1500 réponses en octobre 2006. Des remerciements spéciaux à tout le groupe de recherche et bonne chance aux pays menant le projet ! En parallèle de ceci, les publications des résultats intermédi-

Nouvelle et Opinions

Noticias

aires présentés au cinquante-deuxième congrès d'IPSF à Cairns et au soixante-sixième congrès de la FIP au Brésil sont coordonnées par Zhining Goh. De l’intérêt et de l’attention générés dans le monde entier parmi les universitaires de la pharmacie et des plans pour développer Moving On II en étude longitudinale pour dépister les changements globaux de l'éducation de pharmacie ont été établis.

Pour n'importe quel pays toujours intéressé à mener le projet, contactez Pedro Lucas, directeur du MOII, à pedro.t.lucas@gmail.com. La collecte de données est programmée pour finir à la mi avril 2007.

Projet de Recherche Moving On III Le projet de recherche Moving on III a été lancé au 51e congrès d'IPSF à Bonn, 2006 et depuis, a impliqué la collecte et l'analyse de données sur les intentions d'émigrer à l'étranger des étudiants en pharmacie de neuf pays différents. 800 réponses ont été rassemblées au tour pilote en 2006.

Actuellement le questionnaire est mis à jour en vue du deuxième tour de collecte de données dans plus de 20 pays. Les résultats pilotes soulèvent des questions importantes sur l'intention d'émigrer et suggère le défi que le moteur principal de la migration est l’argent. Comme prévu, l'ampleur des intentions de migration change considérablement entre les pays mais également, ce qui est intéressant, au sein même des pays. Fait également intéressant à signaler, le type de migration prévu par les étudiants change de manière significative en ce qui concerne la migration provisoire (deux ans ou moins) et la migration permanente selon le pays et l'université. Plus les étudiants en pharmacie sont satisfaits de la pratique pharmaceutique et de l’environnement social/politique dans leurs propres pays, ainsi que des opportunités de carrière et de développement économique, plus ils sont enclins à rester dans leur pays d'origine ou d'émigrer temporairement avec une intention de retour plus probable. Les résultats préliminaires ont suscité de l'intérêt au sein de nombreux organismes internationaux et seront présentés avec d'autres résultats à la conférence internationale des professionnels de santé qui se tiendra à Genève, en mars 2007.

L’IPSF donne également à ses membres l'opportunité de stages au siège de l'IPSF à la Haye, Pays Bas. Les stagiaires auront la chance d'apprendre comment la fédération fonctionne et de participer aux projets de l'IPSF incluant le livre de l’histoire de l'IPSF. Pour de plus amples informations au sujet de l'une ou l'autre de ces opportunités de stage, contactez president@ipsf.org

C’est maintenant l’occasion de permettre à votre université et pays de devenir impliqué dans ce projet unique. La collecte de données pour le deuxième et dernier tour du projet sera accomplie en mars-avril 2007 et nous voudrions vraiment avoir autant de pays que possible. Si vous êtes intéressé à participer ou à en découvrir plus, n’hésitez pas à contacter Tana Wuliji, directeur du MO III : twuliji@varsity.co.nz

Opportunités de Stage L’IPSF a accompli des progrès en développant des opportunités de stage pour ses membres. Actuellement, l’IPSF a des disponibilités de stages à la Politique de Médecine, au département des Normes de l'OMS et à l'association Stop TB. Ces stages sont offerts tout au long de l'année et les membres d'IPSF sont bienvenus pour être candidat n'importe quand.

Cependant, les stages sont seulement disponibles pour les membres d'IPSF qui sont toujours étudiants, que ce soit les étudiants préparant le diplôme ou les étudiants en thèse.

L’IPSF a récemment discuté de nouvelles opportunités de stages dans l'unité de promotion de la santé et au département du SIDA à l'OMS. De plus amples informations concernant ces nouvelles opportunités seront disponibles bientôt.

Nous avons également établi un contact avec le réseau pour les maladies contagieuses à l'OMS et pensons que c'est un secteur possible pour la collaboration entre l’IPSF et l’OMS à l'avenir.

Nous espérons pouvoir vous informer à ce sujet bientôt.

Se concede a IPSF el estatus de ECOSOC IPSF recibió el estatus de Consejero por el Consejo Social y Económico de las Naciones Unidas (ECOSOC) en Julio de 2006.

ECOSOC es un foro que asiste a la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas y consta de 54 Estados Miembro. En este foro se discuten diferentes asuntos que conciernen a los campos de la economía y la sociedad, los cuales incluyen condiciones de vida, empleo, progreso social y económico, cooperación internacional en la cultura y educación, y lo concerniente a los derechos humanos. ECOSOC puede iniciar y recopilar estudios e informes, colaborar en la organización y preparación de conferencias internacionales, aconsejar a los 54 Estados Miembro y formular recomendaciones para crear políticas o normas. El foro también coordina varias organizaciones de las Naciones Unidas, partiendo de los programas que la Organización de las Naciones Unidas tiene para entrenar y especializar a agencias como la Organización Mundial de la Salud (WHO, siglas en inglés), la Organización o sección Educacional de las Naciones Unidas, y la Organización Cultural y Científica de las Naciones Unidas (UNESCO) entre muchas otras. IPSF ha establecido una relación oficial con la Organización Mundial de la Salud y también una relación operativa con la (UNESCO) durante mucho tiempo, y esas relaciones no se verán afectadas por la posición de la ECOSOC. ECOSOC le ha concedido un status de consulta a 2800 organizaciones no-gubernamentales (ONG) como IPSF para apoyar su trabajo sirviendo como expertos técnicos y consejeros. Las ONG, al tener una Posición de Consejeros, tienen un enfoque más reducido en la agenda de ECOSOC, mientras que además las ONG por si mismas tienen un enfoque más amplio al cual tal vez se le conceda el estatus de Consejero Especial o Consejero General. El estatus de consulta Roster también implica que IPSF puede asistir a varias reuniones de las Naciones Unidas, designar representantes y ser invitada a las conferencias internacionales.

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Noticias Manual de WHO/FIP “Creando prácticas farmacéuticas: Enfoque en el cuidado del paciente.”

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El papel del farmacéutico ha evolucionado mucho, ya que ha dejado de ser aquel profesional que solamente ofrece y crea la medicina para ser aquel profesional que provee servicios, información y finalmente, brinda cuidados al paciente. El manual “Creando prácticas farmacéuticas: enfoque en el cuidado del paciente” está diseñado para suplir estas necesidades cambiantes. Este manual fue lanzado por primera vez el 21 de noviembre de 2006 en las oficinas centrales de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (WHO, siglas en inglés), en Ginebra, Suiza. IPSF fue invitada a apoyar el lanzamiento del manual junto a la WHO y FIP. Los nuevos farmacéuticos deben tener los conocimientos y las habilidades necesarias para desempeñar su nuevo papel y sus nuevas responsabilidades, y funcionar como miembros colaboradores del equipo del cuidado de la salud. Este manual ofrece conocimientos básicos en la práctica farmacéutica con ejemplos e información práctica.

Este manual es justamente el primer paso hacia el desarrollo de nuestra profesión. Los pasos futuros se iniciarán pronto, a medida que empiecen las pruebas para descubrir la efectividad de este manual en las facultades de farmacia de todo el mundo.

Mediante el programa de prueba, se espera medir y enseñar el proceso teniendo en cuenta el antes y después de haber usado este folleto. El resultado de dicha prueba deberá evaluarse para tener una noción de lo que se debe hacer en el futuro.

Se hará una llamada por parte de la WHO/FIP a las distintas facultades de farmacia para que participen en este programa, y IPSF se ha comprometido ha apoyar este proyecto. Por tanto, si deseas mejorar nuestra profesión, motiva a tu facultad de farmacia a participar en este programa. ¡Esta es tu oportunidad!

Para más información, no dudes en contactar con Audrey a través de la siguiente dirección electrónica: president@ipsf.org

Reunión del Consejo Ejecutivo de la WHO La reunión del Consejo Ejecutivo de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (WHO, siglas en inglés) se ha llevado a cabo en Ginebra del 22 al 30 de enero de 2007. Audrey y Anna estuvieron en Ginebra para representar a IPSF. Entre otros temas de salud pública, en este encuentro se debatió sobre la malaria, tuberculosis, prevención y control de enfermedades no transmisibles y uso racional de medicamentos.

Respecto a la malaria, la WHO es consciente de que esta continúa causando más de un millón de muertes al año que se podrían prevenir, y se necesita pasar a la acción en muchos países para combatir la enfer-

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IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

medad y conseguir los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio para la Malaria. El Consejo Ejecutivo recomienda que la 60ª Asamblea de Salud Mundial, que tendrá lugar en Mayo de 2007, declare el 25 de abril como el Día Mundial de la Malaria. Durante la discusión sobre las enfermedades no transmisibles, la Federación Farmacéutica Internacional (FIP) intervino para promover la colaboración multidisciplinar entre los colectivos de la salud, incluyendo el papel de los farmacéuticos.

Mientras tanto, en Ginebra, IPSF pudo reunirse con sus contactos previamente establecidos en la WHO para informarles sobre las actividades de los miembros de IPSF y para debatir sobre posteriores colaboraciones. Dichas discusiones incluyeron una nueva estrategia para implementar el código de actuación de IPSF respecto al control del tabaco, así como las preparaciones para el Día Mundial de la Salud de 2007. La semana fue muy productiva para IPSF y esperamos poder estrechar la colaboración con la WHO a lo largo del año.

Nueva Colaboración IPSF-IFMSA-COHRED – Construyendo la Nueva Generación de Investigadores Sanitarios En 2005 IPSF, la Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Estudiantes de Medicina (IFMSA) y el Consejo de Investigación Sanitaria para el Desarrollo (COHRED) se embarcaron en una colaboración para examinar que roles podían jugar para ayudar a construir la nueva generación de lideres en investigación. Se identificó el problema de la falta de fondos que los investigadores de la salud encuentran al principio de sus carreras, especialmente importante para investigadores de campos aplicados y Países con Bajo y Medio nivel de Ingresos (de sus siglas en inglés, LMICs). La investigación del sector de la agricultura ha mostrado que proveer a los jóvenes investigadores de LMICs con becas puede ayudar a crear la senda de una carrera exitosa, contribuir incrementar su potencial de liderazgo y aumentar la probabilidad de que desarrollarán sus carreras en sus propios países.

En el 10º Foro Global para la Investigación Sanitaria, en Cairo, Egipto en Noviembre de 2006, el proyecto de colaboración fue objeto de una sesión abierta para conocer las opiniones de los participantes en la conferencia sobre una propuesta para establecer un esquema de financiación para jóvenes investigadores que dirigiesen sus investigaciones hacia el campo de la “investigación para la salud”. Un elemento básico de la propuesta era ensanchar el alcance del esquema para cubrir el desarrollo de la carrera, más que solo la capacidad de investigación, mediante la inclusión de entrenamiento asistido y en el liderazgo. En el debate se describieron experiencias con un amplio abanico de iniciativas para fortalecer el desarrollo profesional de jóvenes investigadores, incluyendo las becas como canales para ganar experiencia en la investigación, asistencia a conferencias como escaparate de sus investigaciones y herramienta para aumentar la divulgación, sistemas de becas basadas en la cualificación para niveles de estudio a nivel de master y doctorado, y programas de becas post doctorado e investigación.

La respuesta de los participantes fue muy favorable a la futura colaboración, examinando la viabilidad del concepto, en particular los aspectos concernientes a los factores de efec-

Noticias tividad al apoyar el desarrollo profesional. La colaboración está ahora investigando y creando una base de evaluación sobre programas de jóvenes investigadores de la salud y el impacto del entrenamiento asistido en la capacidad de investigar y en la productividad.

Los resultados de ejercicio de búsqueda de evidencias serán presentadas en el próximo encuentro de Foro Global, en Beijing, China, en 2007. Su objetivo será reunir un grupo de entidades dispuestas a aportar fondos de países de alto, bajo y medio nivel de ingresos, para desarrollar las conclusiones y plantar la semilla del programa.

Si deseas saber más sobre esta iniciativa, por favor contacta con el programa de colaboración en nextgeneration@cohred.org.

Actualización de Moving On II: Curriculum Farmacéutico y la Experiencia en el Aprendizaje del Estudiante Este es el tercer y último año que el proyecto Moving On II se llevará a cabo. Se están realizando esfuerzos para incrementar tanto el número de países participantes en el proyecto como la precisión de los resultados del estudio. Por ahora se espera que siete nuevos países envíen sus resultados, cinco incrementen la recolección de datos, y Japón ya ha enviado 1500 respuestas en octubre de 2006. ¡Os mando mi más especial agradecimiento a todos los integrantes del Grupo de Investigación y deseo buena suerte a los países que están llevando a cabo el proyecto! En paralelo al programa, se presentaron publicaciones sobre los resultados en el 52ª Congreso de IPSF en Cairns y en el 66º Congreso de FIP en Brasil, coordinados por Zhining Goh. Como se ha generado mucho interés y atención entre docentes farmacéuticos de todo el mundo, se está estudiando desarrollar el programa Moving On II como estudio longitudinal para observar cambios globales en la educación de los farmacéuticos.

Si algún país está interesado en llevar a cabo el proyecto, por favor, contactar con Pedro Lucas, Coordinador del MO II, pedro.t.lucas@gmail.com. La recolección de datos se llevará a cabo hasta mediados de abril de 2007.

Proyecto de Investigación Moving On III El Proyecto de Investigación Moving On III fue inaugurado en el 51º Congreso de IPSF en Bonn, 2006 y desde entonces ha supuesto la recolección y análisis de datos sobre la intención de los estudiantes de farmacia de nueve países de ejercer la profesión fuera del país. En la fase piloto a lo largo de 2006 se recogieron 800 respuestas.

En estos momentos el cuestionario está siendo revisado para la preparación de una segunda fase de recogida de datos de más de 20 países Los resultados de la fase piloto resaltan la conclusión de que el dinero es el aspecto fundamental que lleva a la migración. Como se esperaba, la extensión de la intención de migrar varía enormemente entre países, pero curiosamente, también varía dentro de un propio país. Lo que también resulta interesante resaltar es que el tipo de migración planeada por los estudiantes varía entre temporales (dos años o menos) o permanentemente, según el país y la universidad. Se establece una relación que indica que cuanto más contentos están los estudiantes de farmacia con la práctica farmacéutica y el entorno social y político en sus propios países, además de las oportunidades de desarrollo

profesional y económico; más tienden a no migrar o a migrar temporalmente, con la intención de volver. Los resultados preliminares han generado interés entre muchas organizaciones internacionales y serán representados junto a otras investigaciones en la International Health Workforce Conference que tendrá lugar en Ginebra en marzo de 2007.

Ahora es la oportunidad para que tu universidad y tu país se impliquen en este proyecto único. La recolección de datos para la segunda (y última) ronda se completará entre marzo y abril de 2007 y nos gustaría tener representados cuantos más países de todo el mundo sea posible. Si estás interesado en tomar parte o en saber más sobre el proyecto, no dudes en contactar a Tana Wuliji, Coordinadora del MO III, twuliji@varsity.co.nz

Becas IPSF ha progresado en el desarrollo de las oportunidades de acceder a las becas para nuestros miembros.

Actualmente, IPSF cuenta con becas en el Departamento de Normativa de Medicamentos y Estándares de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (WHO, siglas en inglés) y colaboraciones con el Proyecto Stop TB (Paremos la Tuberculosis). Estas becas se ofrecen a lo largo del año y los miembros de IPSF pueden solicitarlas en cualquier momento. De todas maneras, las becas sólo están disponibles para aquellos miembros que aún estén estudiando, ya sea antes de graduarse o a nivel de post-grado.

IPSF también ofrece a sus miembros la oportunidad de conseguir una beca en sus oficinas centrales en La Haya, Holanda. Los becarios tendrán la oportunidad de aprender cómo funciona la Federación y tomar parte en los proyectos de IPSF, incluyendo el Libro de Historia de IPSF. Para más información sobre cualquiera de estas becas, por favor, contactar con president@ipsf.org. IPSF recientemente ha discutido las nuevas oportunidades para becas en la Unidad de Promoción de la Salud y el Departamento de VIH/SIDA en la WHO. Por favor, buscad más información respecto a estas nuevas oportunidades.

También hemos establecido contacto con la Unidad de Enfermedades Transmisibles de la WHO, y creemos que es una posible área para la colaboración entre IPSF y WHO en el futuro.

Esperamos poder informaros sobre esto pronto.

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IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

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Public Relations Public Relations Activites

Visits to Belgium and The Netherlands

Attention, my beloved CP's, ipsfers and pharmacy students around the world! The IPSF PR portfolio has been on fire since the beginning of 2007! The upcoming months until the congress in august will be very a busy for me, full of work, travel and study, of course.

Belgium After enjoying some of the best Belgian chocolates , shopping for some time in the streets of Brussels , visiting the Atomium and eating Belgian frise, Natasa Nikolic (Chairperson of Student Exchange) and I met with representatives of The Association of Flanders Pharmacy Students (VSFA). The association was established 2 years ago and is growing bigger every year. During our meeting we met Steven and Sophie from VFSA and discussed the possibility of them joining IPSF. Natasa and I were able to explain for them the benefits of joining IPSF, such as being part of the international pharmacy community and gaining international representation for pharmacy students' of Belgium, in addition to receiving the wide range of IPSF Publications: News Bulletin, Annual Report & the Phuture supplement. Gaining IPSF membership will give the students the opportunity to attend IPSF events such as IPSF World Congress, APPS-Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium, and PARS-Pan American Pharmaceutical Symposium. Receiving information about different internships that IPSF offer in affiliation with other global and professional organizations such as WHO is another added value for IPSF membership. Natasa was kind enough to show them a live simulation of how the Student Exchange Programme process takes place. Finally we agreed on paying another visit to VFSA in April to meet with the deans and students of the 3 schools of Flanders.

The deadline for CP's to send their contact information sheets for updating the CP list passed on the 15th of January. For those who were not able to send their information please still try to do so soon. The CP list is the main contact between IPSF and its members.

Since February I have been preparing for my Middle East tour to promote IPSF to some Eastern Mediterranean Countries.

This will include Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. I have already contacted universities and pharmacy student bodies to arrange promotional presentations as well as meetings with their boards.

In March I attended the 2nd executive meeting in The Hague and I intended to drop by our fellow colleagues in Tunis to do some promotion there. The students in Tunis are really enthusiastic about coming back to IPSF and we may be welcoming them back in Taiwan. The month of April was very busy. I attended the 7th Romanian pharmacy students' congress organized by the Romanian federation, FASFR, our Full member. I also took the opportunity to see the site where the 2008 IPSF world congress will take place in Cluj Napoca, Romania.

Ihad to head back to Egypt for my exams in the 2nd half of April, though I would have loved to have gone to EPSA congress but exams had to be taken!

In May I might be able to choose between going to PARS in Costa Rica or APPS in Kathmandu- it depends if I am already broke or not yet ...hehe!

However there will be an important event in the national association for pharmacy students in Algeria and they have invited the IPSF executive so it might also be a good opportunity to promote IPSF over there. As June approaches I will stay in Egypt for some time and stop travelling until the congress in August. In this time you will receive the IPSF membership satisfaction questionnaire which I will compile to help evaluate the points of strength and weakness in IPSF. This will enable us in future to make IPSF membership more attractive, to keep our current members satisfied and our new members motivated to join.

At Congress in August we will launch the new Non-members manual for setting up local /national associations. This manual will help promote IPSF more easily to countries with no student representation and by then will hopefully have been translated into all official languages of IPSF. Finally, I would like to tell you that so far my year in IPSF can only be described as really exciting, enriching and full of new experiences. I would encourage any of you who would like to spend your time travelling to meet new pharmacy friends all over the world, to go for the position of Chairperson of Public Relations at elections during congress. See you all in Taiwan.

Hugs and kisses from Sunny Cairo, Mohamed Atef Chairperson of Public Relations 2006-2007

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The Netherlands On the 26th of October the K.N.P.S.V. (The Royal National Association of Pharmacy Students of The Netherlands) held their International Night. I was kindly invited by the executive of KNPSV from Groningen. After a 5 hour trip from The Hague I arrived at the 'Students city’ of Groningen in Northern Netherlands and I was picked up by the CP ' Contact Person ' of KNPSV. The night began with a series of presentations the first which was a presentation from EPSA by Marloes Ten Brink - ex - KNPSV CP to IPSF this was followed by a Anouk Rademaker who is the project officer of the Twin project for EPSA. The first half of the night was concluded with a promotional video presentation by Eric from K.N.P.S.V. about the next EPSA congress which will be hosted by KNPSV in The Hague in April 2007. After a 20 mins coffee break I stepped up to do give a presentation about IPSF. The presentation lasted around 15 mins with a 5 mins Q & A session. Most of the participants were 1st and 2nd year students with around 30 students attending the night. Their questions mainly focused on the different projects that IPSF offers to its members as well as the internships. Summing up the whole issue I can see that the night was a real eye opener for freshman students about the wide range of opportunities IPSF can offer them.

Mohammed Atef Chairperson of Public Relations 2006-2007

Education & Practice First IPSF Training New Trainers Session

Training New Trainers in JAPAN

Three days before the start of the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia, almost 20 students from around the world met to participate in the first session of Training New Trainers.

APS-Japan held training workshops in conjunction with its 8th Annual Congress in December 2006 for the first time. Izumi Nasu and Yoko Gocho, who were trained as trainers at the IPSF Training New Trainers programme held before the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns, Australia, organised the workshops. We had 20 pharmacy students who were outgoing/incoming Executive committee members and representatives from nine pharmacy schools from all over Japan.

Training New Trainers is a leadership and organisational development workshop designed to provide new trainers with skills to plan, organise and evaluate future leadership sessions. After the core group of new trainers completes their session, they then lead their own session at a national and local level. This provides an opportunity for the new trainer to both practice what he/she learned as well as provide local IPSF members with information on various topics from goal setting to time management and professionalism.

This experience benefits IPSF members by providing skills to prepare them for their professional careers but also provides skilled leaders within IPSF. In Cairns, new trainers learned about group dynamics and change, chairing a meeting and project planning. The speakers were dynamic and provided opportunities for group activities to apply the concepts of the session. The group of new trainers was highly inquisitive and very interactive. The participants had a great time learning and growing together, developing a bond of friendship that was visible throughout the congress.

Following the training session, the new trainers developed their own sessions on communication skills, group dynamics and conflict resolution, to name but a few topics. Nearly 20 IPSF members attended each of the six sessions held on the fourth day of congress. These workshops were interactive with games and group activities to demonstrate the concepts of the session. Feedback from the experience was very positive. The new trainers had fun practising and passing on what they had learned, while the IPSF members enjoyed the interactive sessions.

This was the first year for the Training New Trainers programme in IPSF. Look forward to further announcements and information on how you can be involved in this and similar IPSF leadership development events. In the meantime, if you have questions or are interested in learning more about the programme, email Ellen Diedrichsen, at training@ipsf.org.

Ellen Diedrichson United States of America Training Co-ordinator 2006-2007

The purpose of the training workshops was to address the weakness of the APS-Japan as a student association and to nurture future leaders in order to have a stronger and better organisation.

Members who attended the workshops participated in interactive sessions to experience and discuss about the elements of organisational work such as Team work, Committee structure, Leaderships and Communication Skills, just to name a few. Many academic programmes, including undergraduate pharmacy education in our country do not focus on much practical components and not many students have the opportunity to learn about these issues. Therefore the participants of our training workshops found the topics covered highly interesting, relevant and useful.

One of challenges in organising this training event for the next generation was to find the right time and opportunity.

Finally, thanks to the efforts and cooperation of the RC and APS executive committee, it was conducted during the national congress. There was not a lot of time, since the congress programme had been decided a long time ago and the schedule was quite tight, but the participants still gained new ideas, discovered new ways together and had a really good time. The organisers were able to see the capability and potential in the wonderful performance of our future leaders during the training workshops.

The training programme provided great opportunities for both the trainers and participants of the workshops. I do hope these activities will continue internationally and locally in future.

Yoko Gocho APS-Japan, Japan

Promoting the Profession - Xperience 2006 Xperience Pharmacy Camp is a three-day twonight camp held annually

by NUSPS,Singapore. The camp aims to promote awareness of the Pharmacy profession and Pharmacy education course, as well as to provide an insight on the role of Pharmacists from the various sectors, other than the

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Education & Practice socially-perceived dispensing roles.

This last year, 120 Junior College students participated in the camp, which was held from 13th to 15th December Throughout the camp, students attended talks given by Pharmacists from different sectors, such as hospital, retail and industry. We also invited pharmacists from the Drug and Poison Information Centre (SGH), and a cosmetic company.

This series of talks provided the students with a better insight on the various roles that Pharmacists play.

Laboratory sessions were organized to provide students with the opportunity to make simple formulations such as the capsules and inhalations. From the feedback gathered, students felt that these were an eye-opener and they indeed enjoyed the sessions tremendously!

Students also participated in various workshops planned by the seniors. The first workshop was “Know Your Drugs” and each group was assigned a common ailment (constipation, cold and flu, or cough). The students were then introduced to the various types of medications available for the treatment of these ailments.

A “Patient Counselling” workshop was also conducted whereby students learnt basic counselling skills and participated in role-playing sessions. Students were also introduced to the commonly used medical devices through the “Medical Device” workshop conducted by Bayer.

Visits to Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Bukit Batok Polyclinic and the Health Promotion Board were arranged for these students. In addition, they also had the privilege of visiting the Clinical Trial Unit of the National University Hospital (NUH).

Work aside, fun-filled games were organized for them to bond with one another. On the first night, everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly during the telematches. The highlight came on the second night when we played the “Game of Life” which is a game that requires lots of strategizing. The unique concept of this game was well received by the camp participants.

Through this camp, we hope to promote interest in the pharmacy profession among the younger Junior College students.

Hopefully, this introductory experience to the pharmacy course would attract passionate individuals to join our Pharmily!

Ng Xinyi NUSPS Singapore

Patient Counselling Event - Cairns My name is Rachida Bouamar and I’m a fifth year pharmacy student from the Netherlands. Last year I participated in the 52nd IPSF Congress in Cairns (Australia). As at many past congresses the traditional IPSF Patient Counselling Event was organised, of which the final session was a competition where the participants had to demonstrate their skills in

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IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

front of an audience. The winners of this event were Vidhu Pachauri (India, beginner level), James Davies (United Kingdom, advanced level) and I was the winner of the intermediate level.

Nowadays, patient-centred care is paramount to the pharmacy profession and one of the most important professional functions of a licensed pharmacist is patient counselling.

Pharmacists have been encouraged to take a more active role in patient counselling to help address medication related problems. Studies have shown that effective patient counselling can significantly reduce patient non-adherence and treatment failure.

Counselling is not just the obligatory ‘courteous-talk’ to the patient but provision of a combination of advice, information and instructions. Furthermore, effective patient counselling isn’t simply the provision of information on the drugs prescribed to a patient; instead, it is the inauguration or reinforcement of the patient-healthcare provider partnership and an empowerment process for the patient as their own disease manager.

In the Netherlands, we have communication skills sessions during the pharmacy course. These sessions, known as ‘counter-tests’, teach students the elements of good patient counselling and provide the opportunity to practice and demonstrate these skills. The major goal of these patient counselling sessions is to encourage the students to become better communicators and patient educators. The counselling encounter should be thought of as an opportunity for information exchange for therapy individualisation. As a pharmacist, you are the expert on drug therapy, but patients are the experts on their daily routines, how they understand their illness and its treatment, whether they anticipate any problems taking the medication as prescribed, etc. Each patient is unique with their own individual lifestyle, so each of these points needs to be assessed and addressed for effective counselling.

IPSF and FIP consider patient counselling an important issue in pharmaceutical care, and have been collaborating to collate and generate resources to advocate the skills: counselling, concordance and communication. This is a great step forward and we look forward to many more years of fruitful collaboration.

I could not have won the Patient Counselling Event last year without the tips from Majanne Wolters and Tom Schalekamp, and without my friend Cheryl Anijs who helped me to improve my English before I went to Australia. I want to thank them all, and I hope PCE will be a success again this year!

Rachida Bouamar KNPSV The Netherlands Liaison on Patient Counselling

Education & Practice First Time Patient Counselling Event in Egypt – Overcoming Deficiencies in the Curriculum The idea of practising patient counselling was introduced for the first time in our university in September 2006. A group of pharmacy students formed a working team and started considering organising a patient counselling competition, they found that it is difficult to organise a contest without first introducing the concept of patient counselling to the students and graduates. This lead to the organising committee’s decision to carry out the patient counselling event as a course over several days.

In our university, patient counselling skills are taught in the undergraduate curricula within the pharmaceutics syllabus in the final and pre-final years. The fact that there are few opportunities for students to put their theoretical knowledge into practice (especially patient counselling skills) during the undergraduate course made the event a good way for students and graduates to refresh and practise these skills. It also emphasised the need for good pharmacy practice in the Egyptian pharmacy community.

A team of eleven students, under the supervision of academics, began collecting scientific material two months before the event.

The course mainly focused on two topics: upper respiratory tract disorders and management of headache and lower back pain. The course started on 18th September and lasted for five days. There were two teaching sessions each day, each lasting for one and a half hours.

The first day introduced the concept of patient counselling, the problems hindering good pharmacy practice in Egypt and some suggested strategies to solve them. The morning sessions of the following four days were aimed at providing the attendees with information about medications and treatment of the upper respiratory tract disorders, headache and low back pain. Role-plays and scenarios were performed in the afternoon sessions. The attendees were divided into groups and each received a different scenario with accompanying drug information and given 20 minutes to solve it. A volunteer from each group played the role of the pharmacist and a member of the organising committee performed the patient’s role. Verbal self-evaluation and evaluation by participants and professors was given on the spot after the role plays.

Feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive.

They said that it was an enriching experience and that they learnt quite a lot about patient counselling. They would also like to see the event conducted again.

I also hope to see patient counselling courses included as part of continuing education in the future.

Yasmine Salah Koraiem Alexandria Scientific Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (ASPSA), Egypt

Moving On II in Israel What can we say about Moving On II (MOII) that hasn't already been discussed? What news can this remarkable research project hold? The answers to all these questions, and much more, are in the following article.

Let me start with MOII 101, a quick reminder about this initiative and its objectives. MOII is an original research project conducted by IPSF, which seeks to compare and contrast learning experiences of students enrolled in a pharmacy degree programme. It also examines the quality of education from the students’ perspective. Some of the project objectives are: 1.

To determine pharmacy students’ perceptions of their learning experiences and the quality of their education.

2.

To obtain evidence on the demography of pharmacy students worldwide.

3.

To obtain evidence on the professional aspirations of pharmacy students worldwide.

After a highly successful year of collecting and analysing data (all together about 5,000 responses world-wide!), the immediate-past Chair of MOII, Zhining Goh, now IPSF Chairperson of Education and Practice 2006-07, was replaced by Pedro Lucas from Portugal.

During the FIP Congress in Brazil, there was a tremendous response to the presentation of MOII results during and after the joint IPSF-FIP Academic Pharmacy Section session. The former IPSF Chair of Pharmacy Education, Ellen Diedrichsen, was approached by a number of educators who requested copies of the presentation slides to bring back to their own universities to open discussions on how they could impact their students' learning experiences.

On a local point of view, I'd like to share with you my experience in presenting MOII and its results to our pharmacy school staff. The aims were to promote IPSF as a serious, professional and science-driven organisation, and at the same time to try to improve our pharmacy curriculum and quality of education. Compared to other countries, Israeli students’ satisfaction with their curriculum did not score highly.

Obviously, this wasn't received well with our professors and they even questioned whether the research is valid. I will suggest to you all, before presenting the results, think about what you would like to accomplish and prepare accordingly.

For example, my goals were to improve student's evaluation of some variables, and propose ways of doing so in our faculty.

As you can see, this invigorating and highly valuable scientific work keeps us busy in contributing to IPSF objectives. In my opinion the "added value" of this remarkable project is that as students, we can try to influence decision makers and improve our learning experiences.

Ram Malis A.S.R.N, Israel

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Public Health Welcome to Public Health!

Romania

Promoting public health is key to IPSF’s aims and objectives.

IPSF encourages and supports its members in establishing pharmaceutical student-managed public health campaigns globally.

The diabetes campaign that we had last year made us consider organizing a long term project, one that will teach people, especially children from the countryside, on the importance of having a healthy life-style and what are the diseases that can occur due to a chaotic life, diabetes having an important part in "Your Health Matters" - the name of the project.

This is a two year project and the campaigns are being organized twice a month. The first step was a visit in a school in Gilau, a village near Cluj-Napoca where we talked to children (11-12 years old) about the pyramid of aliments and the importance of each group. The children were really excited, they put a lot of questions and we had a great workshop (we even prepared some materials for them).

Our next step is going to be after winter holiday, we will measure the blood sugar level in the pharmacy from Gilau and talk to people about diabetes risk factors while another group of students are going to have a workshop with children (14-15 years this time) about subjects concerning the Romanian way to eat in the countryside.

But, more about this step, in future articles…….

IPSF currently has four official public health campaigns, providing our members with the opportunities to implement a campaign of importance and relevance to the public health needs of their local and national population. IPSF public health campaigns aim to offer something for everyone.

In collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), IPSF runs the following four public health campaigns: Healthy Living and Diabetes, HIV/AIDS Awareness, TB Campaign and Tobacco Alert.

On the following pages you will find the IPSF Public Health Calendar: reports of public health days already celebrated and the fantastic ways in which our members marked these occasions, an insight of what is still to come and information on how YOU can become involved!

WORLD DIABETES DAY World Diabetes Day is marked every year on 14th November. Many people do not recognise diabetes as being a life-threatening disease and causing a high mortality like communicable diseases such as HIV are known to, but diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by disease globally.

For 2006, the specific theme chosen for World Diabetes day was Diabetes Care for Everyone, raising awareness of people in both developed and developing countries with diabetes or at risk of developing the disease and the need for access to the best quality of education, prevention and care that is possible.

Here are just some of the ways IPSF members marked World Diabetes Day.

Finland

Every year many events take place on 14th November, World Diabetes Day, and pharmacy students did not miss them. The most widespread is the Global Diabetes Walk. By walking students helped raise awareness of the global diabetes pandemic. When stressing the local importance of this Walk, we have to know that there are 200,000 Slovenians that suffer from diabetes. However, only half of them are aware of their situation.

Pharmacy students joined other campaigns, too. They helped at chemists by making contact with the locals and measuring their waist and level of glucose. Through this, important data about prevalence of diabetes in 2006 in Slovenia was collected.

In the future the diabetes growth must stop, otherwise we will have to face the unpleasant fact, calculated by the World Health Organization: there are currently 176 million people with diabetes in the world. The number will rise to 370 million by 2030. Do not allow this to happen.

The Finnish Pharmaceutical Students’ Associations (FiPSA) organised a campaign on diabetes to remind our student members of the importance of pharmacists’ role in diabetes care. To make this year’s Diabetes Care for Everyone theme better fit the national situation, we emphasised pharmacists' roles in good diabetes care, as in Finland people generally have good access to basic diabetes care.

The FiPSA executive produced a poster about diabetes care from pharmacists’ points of view. The poster presented oral diabetes medicines, different types of insulin and non-medical treatment. It provided basic information on the pharmacology and pharmacotherapy of the oral medicines and insulin as well as other important counselling points to remember in the pharmacy. Tips on lifestyle counselling were an important part of the poster as medicines are only one part of effective diabetes care.

The poster was sent to all Finnish pharmacy students by email through pharmacy students’ email lists in each of the three faculties of pharmacy. In addition, we put the poster to the corridors at the faculties in Kuopio, Helsinki and Turku, together with World Diabetes Day posters and other material from IPSF and the Finnish Diabetes Association.

In our studies, we come across diabetes several times.

However, FiPSA found it important and useful to remind students of our important role and offer compact information on diabetes.

Alenka Jaklic SS SFD

Kaisa Juntunen FiPSA

Slovenia

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Anca Pop FASFR

IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

Public Health WORLD AIDS DAY AIDS remains a major global crisis and the AIDS epidemic continues to grow. Our HIV/AIDS Awareness campaign is one of the strongest official public health campaigns of IPSF. Each year, more and more IPSF members recognise World AIDS Day on 1st December by organising campaigns and events in their own countries. By acting locally, we can together achieve globally and support the theme of World AIDS Day itself: STOP AIDS. KEEP THE PROMISE. Fighting AIDS is as much about fighting the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease and changing peoples’ attitudes as it is about fighting the disease itself.

Several IPSF member organisations included these aspects in the campaigns they held.

Hungary Fortunately Hungary does not belong to the more infected countries in Europe – there are about 12,000 patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Still, it is crucial to prevent the spread of the disease, so pharmacy students organised campaigns in three cities in Hungary.

In the capital, Budapest, pharmacy students prepared a joint event with the National Public Health Service and the Pluss Association (the organisation of patients diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS). Interesting presentations were held by doctors and famous TV presenters. Participants also had an opportunity to put together puzzles, collect information booklets, look at posters about AIDS, the history of the red ribbon and fill in quizzes. Participants were mainly high school students who were very motivated and interested in answering the questions.

In Debrecen and Szeged pharmacy students organised joint campaigns with medical students. Charity concerts were held and students filled in quizzes. A presenter spoke about the red ribbon that represents our sympathy for AIDS patients, our resentment that we have not defeated the virus yet and our hopes that one day we will not have to wear the ribbon anymore.

It was a pleasure to organise these well attended events and especially enjoyable to collaborate with the medical students for the first time in a public health campaign.

Anna Szekeres HUPSA

Latvia “Stop AIDS. Keep the promise”: To make this happen in Latvia we had a joint campaign with medicine students from IFMSA, as they were the main organizers. This was also a good chance for students from different health care specialities to work together for this noble goal.

All kinds of public activities were organised by the state,

town councils and specialized organisations all over the country, on television and radio.

On 30th November two lectures were held in Riga Stradins University about community health aspects of HIV/AIDS and activities of medicine students.

An informative desk was also organised in collaboration with the university library and the AIDS Prophylaxis Centre.

On the evening of 1st December we went to nightclubs to deal out condoms and to talk to people about HIV and AIDS. I was surprised how many young people still are not aware of what it is!!! … And it was quite scary actually.

This was the first time for me to get so closely involved with this day. At the end of the day - well it was the morning of the 2nd December already when I went home! - I had that priceless feeling of having done something good for everybody. I think that this is somehow a part of the aim we are studying pharmacy for, too - to help people!

Liene Lace LPSA

United States of America With 4.3 million people newly infected with HIV/AIDS in 2006, it is ever important to educate our communities and up-and-coming healthcare leaders on how to provide support for people living with HIV and to prevent new infections. The world unites in a global fight to make the promise, keep the promise and stop AIDS. At the University of Arizona, an annual event continues to educate healthcare practitioners, student pharmacists, and members of the community about the prevention and treatment practices of HIV. In large part, the aim of this campaign is to reduce the stigma associated with HIV from a lack of knowledge and understanding of the disease. The attitudes that we have as student healthcare practitioners are suggestive of how we will respond to the individuals we will come in contact with in our professional careers.

The 3rd Annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Week was held during the last week of November, leading up to World AIDS Day. The fourday program consisted of a series of speakers addressing various HIV/AIDS topics. The speakers included a leading physician in the field providing a current global, national, and local perspective of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a naturopathic doctor discussing alternative medicine, a pharmacist highlighting important drug therapy issues and, a patient living with HIV. The patient’s perspective is perhaps the most valuable to us. It is from the patient that we learn first hand how to be a better healthcare practitioner. Several community clinics participated in the event and supported us by giving informational pamphlets and free condoms.

We believe we reached many individuals in our campaign who will go on and contribute to the prevention of HIV/AIDS and increase overall awareness. STOP AIDS, keep the promise.

Sarah Adriance APhA-ASP

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Public Health TUBERCULOSIS (TB) CAMPAIGN

WORLD HEALTH DAY

Each year about 1.7 million people die of this curable disease. TB is a disease relevant to many countries worldwide and therefore relevant to IPSF. IPSF members are encouraged and supported in partnering other pharmaceutical or non-pharmaceutical bodies in their country to jointly promote the Global Plan of the Stop TB Partnership to achieve a “TB free world”. To be able to reach all patients and ensure that they receive high-quality care, all types of healthcare providers need to be engaged in the fight against TB – including pharmacy students.

IPSF members are encouraged to mark World TB Day on 24th March each year by organizing campaigns and events in their own countries to improve the public’s knowledge about TB prevention and treatment and promote the pharmacists’ role as a key member of the health care team in improving the lives of those with TB. The theme for World TB Day 2007 is TB anywhere is TB everywhere. More guidance on ways to celebrate World TB Day will be published in the IPSF Newsletter at the beginning of March. You can also look at the IPSF and Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Society (CPA) TB web forum for pharmacists and pharmacy students at www.pharmacistsfighttb.org

In addition to the four official public health campaigns of IPSF, the Federation also actively promotes World Health Day on 7th April each year, raising awareness of a chosen theme among pharmacy students and young pharmacists, as part of the multi-disciplinary healthcare team. By improving global public health through localized action, World Health Day aims to make a worldwide positive impact under the umbrella theme of a globally significant health issue.

The theme for World Health Day 2007 is Health and Security: outbreaks and crises. IPSF members will be encouraged to adapt this theme to align with the health concerns of their local community, in order to achieve the greatest possible impact on public health.

For further information on the work of IPSF in the field of public health, e-mail Anna Watson, Chairperson of Public Health at publichealth@ipsf.org

PUBLIC HEALTH CALENDER TOBACCO ALERT CAMPAIGN World No Tobacco Day is celebrated around the world every year on 31st May and IPSF members are encouraged to join these celebrations to educate the public on the risks of smoking and the deadly health consequences of tobacco use.

Based on the WHO Code of Practice on Tobacco Control for Health Professional Organisations, IPSF developed a Code of Practice on Tobacco Control to encourage member associations to take more active roles in promoting a tobacco-free world and in creating a model healthy lifestyle as healthcare students.

The Tobacco Alert Campaign has grown to be one of the most popular initiatives of IPSF. Further details and ideas for running Tobacco Alert campaigns in your own countries will be published in the IPSF Newsletter at the end of April and campaign materials will be distributed to interested member associations.

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24th March World Tuberculosis Day 7th April: World Health Day 14th – 23rd May World Health Assembly: WHO 31st May World No Tobacco Day 6th – 16th August Public Health workshops at the 53rd IPSF Annual Congress in Taiwan.

17 November: World Diabetes Day 1st December: World AIDS Day

Student Exchange Programme Beginning SEP in Israel The excitement and honor of becoming Member in Association at the 52nd IPSF congress in Cairns has not subsided. On the contrary, it was highly contagious through what is called the "IPSF spirit". As we see it, a vital part of that exhilarating spirit is the opportunity to experience multiculturalism and mobility through the Student Exchange Programme (SEP). Therefore the next logical step was to establish SEP here in Israel.

How does one approach such a gigantic project? Where does one start? What is required? Answers to all these questions, and many more, were given during the Congress, especially at the SEP workshop.

To begin with, I decided to allocate time for the simple but crucial task of thinking about what I would like to achieve with the SEP program in Israel. This became the birth of a paper called "Strategic plan of initiating SEP in A.S.R.N, Israel". Why was this important? Well, as so elegantly said in "Alice in wonderland": "... thought Alice, and she went on. "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cheshire Cat".

The strategic plan suggests a scheme, deals with methods of action and gives a rough time frame in order to run SEP in Israel. It also includes a mission statement and measurable objectives, all in the hope of establishing the best program we can. On top of it all, we have to keep in mind SEP wasn't intended to be a "one-time" project, and so the strategic plan will become useful at the end of the year when we can evaluate the program and improve it accordingly. Moreover, when the next handover of the Student Exchange Officer (SEO) position takes place, the new SEO can use the plan as a guideline on a national level.

In conclusion, I believe a strategic plan is vital for every country participating in SEP. Although I can clearly say reality deviated from our original plans, we can correct these deviations, and at least we know where we want to go.

Ram Malis, Student Exchange Officer A.S.R.N, Israel.

How It started – Latvia in SEP 2006 was a successful year for the Latvian Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (LPSA). Among other good projects implemented, we launched the Student Exchange Program (SEP) for the first time. Four foreign students were planning to come to Riga. That was a new challenge for us!

Latvia is quite a small country and not so well known among its more famous sisters in Europe, so we felt huge responsibility to show all the best of our country to our foreign guests who chose Latvia as their destination for pharmacy practice.

My experience of two months SEP in Serbia one year ago , the

excellent, well organized practice in Belgrade and the unique knowledge Marko and Natasa (ex-SEO of Serbia) shared with me, gave us a much brighter vision of how a good exchange program should look. We also made a role-play game where we tried to imagine ourselves as exchange students arriving in Latvia for pharmacy practice, far away from home, friends and accustomed lifestyle.. This helped us to discover and organize activities, which would make an exchange successful for international students.

To prepare and introduce them to the upcoming adventure, we created e-mail list in yahoo groups to encourage communication among students and organizers, so they could became friends even before arrival. In this way it was much easier to provide and share all necessary details about Latvia and pharmacy practice, as well as answer all preliminary questions they had.

We started negotiations with pharmacies, industry and research institutes to motivate them to accept foreign students. This wasn’t always easy but it was really interesting to meet different important people from the pharmacy field and get them involved in SEP. Thanks to our efforts, supplemented with good luck, we managed to provide practice opportunities in community pharmacy and research institutes. We chose a pharmacy chain with the most brand new pharmacies, where students could learn the latest trends in serving community needs according good pharmacy practice. In addition the Institute of Organic Synthesis of Latvia offered the best laboratories and analytical equipment available in Latvia for real “touch and try” application.. The Institute was a pleasure to attend each day.

It provided invaluable experiences along with a great social scene and delicious free meals!

We were lucky to get good weather this summer and exchange students could visit neighboring countries Estonia and Lithuania as well as Russia. The places you fall in love with. When looking back at the end of the summer and closing our SEP year, we had a great feeling of a job well done.

Summarizing feedback we realized how many unforgettable feelings and experiences we gave to our first exchange students. They went back home satisfied and full of new impressions, bringing small piece of beautiful Latvia in their hearts.

We are proud of it.

To all other countries who are considering starting SEP and to all students who are thinking of participating, I would like to address my invitation to jump in and join this great world of international friendship and experience! It’s definitely worth it.

See you in SEP. Juris Zakrevskis LPSA Latvia

IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

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Student Exchange Programme Amazing, Unique SEP in Belgrade

SEP to Alexandria, Egypt

I had heard only good reports about this exchange program from other students at my university. My intention was to visit a country which I have never been to and that is well organised.

Only a few weeks after applying for Serbia, I was fortunate to be placed in Belgrade. I had great, regular e-mail contact with Natasa (SEO of Serbia) between January and July and she always answered my questions immediately. She also started a yahoo-newsgroup for all exchange students and some Serbian pharmacy students, which made it possible for us to get in contact with each other long before the exchange.

The only thing I had to do was to book my flight from Munich to Belgrade.

We all stayed in the same, very central hostel in two or four bed rooms and didn’t have to pay anything for it. Natasa picked me up from the airport with her car and was also always there for us during our stay in Belgrade.

In August eleven more students took part in SEP: seven from Portugal, two from Slovenia and two from Finland. As I was the only one from Germany I was forced to speak only English for the whole four weeks. This wasn’t always that easy for me, especially in the first days, but it improved my English a lot and I got better every day. Everyone got along with each other very well and we spent a lot of time together. SEP Serbian students were with us very often and organized many activities. We went to many parties, concerts, to the beer fest, swimming in the Ada lake, playing paintball and volleyball, visiting museums, the parliament and the royal palace.

For one day we also visited Novi Sad and in our last week we went on holiday to Montenegro and Croatia all together. This was a real highlight and we enjoyed the beautiful sea and landscape so much!

The opportunity of training in Egypt was very attractive to me, especially because I would travel alone to a city I had never been to before.

Mohamed, the Alexandrian SEO, was very quick to answer all my questions about Alexandria and Egypt via email and I could begin to imagine what my stay in Egypt might be like.

But we didn’t neglect pharmacy! For about two weeks I worked together with one of the Finnish girls in a community pharmacy for four hours a day. We helped the pharmacists prepare creams, ointments and suppositories and talked a lot with them. Most of them spoke English quite well and were very interested in the health systems of Germany and Finland. At the same time we also learned a lot about pharmacies and their problems in Serbia.

I can only recommend to anyone who wants to meet wonderful people and to have the best time of their life to make their SEP in Serbia!

My time there was such an enrichment for me: new friendships, incredible experiences and so much kindness and openness everywhere… to NAPSER who have made this possible: Thank you so much for everything!!!

Simone Kotzian BPhD Germany

I choose to experience clinical pharmacy at Al Salama hospital in Alexandria. I was able to observe the system of communication between the drug stores and the supplier or the various departments of the hospital, the classification of drugs and the control of characterization of drugs. I saw how drugs are sorted, the computer system, communication between the pharmacy and other departments, and how patient files were managed. In the clinical pharmacy department I spent my time with two clinical pharmacists. Each day I went with them to check drug doses, interactions and to check the diagnoses in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and CCU (Cardiac Care Unit).

Each day I spent time with my supervisor who is a professor specialising in pharmaceutical chemistry. Together we discussed topics such as organisation of work in the hospital, communication between various departments (mainly communication between doctors and clinical pharmacists) and the differences between European and Arabic types of health care. I visited the Pharmaceutical Faculty in Alexandria, and saw all of the laboratories, lecture halls and the analytical department of the faculty. This exchange experience was very useful to me as I was introduced to many interesting fields in pharmacy and other hospital departments. I hope I will use the skills I acquired in Alexandria in my future work.

I saw many historical places in Alexandria, eg. Bibliotheca Alexandria, Planetarium, Citadelle and Montazah Palace and I enjoyed most of my spare time with the local pharmacy students, spending almost every evening somewhere out at coffee bars. I also spent one day in Cairo and saw the most popular monuments – the pyramids, the sphinx, markets, mosques, Elhussein square and mosque and also the river Nile.I found many new friends in Alexandria among the pharmacy students, their families and other friends. I also spent a lot of time with three students who I met from Hungary, France and Spain.

The Egyptian people were very kind and very helpful to me.

My new friends spent all their time with me and did their best to keep me busy. I enjoyed this summer very, very much!

I would like to thank Mohamed Abd El-aal (SEO of ASPSA) , Moataz Abd Elfattah (President of ASPSA), Proffessor Ibrahim Labouta (specialist in pharmaceutical chemistry and my supervisor), Mohamed Samaha and all the others who helped me (they know who they are!) Without them my stay in Alexandria wouldn’t have been as great as it was.

Veronika Fratričová, CPSA Czech Republic

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Reports Development Fund The Development Fund was created with the aim of helping pharmacy students and associations which are normally incapable of participating in IPSF activities because of financial reasons.

This year, we have continued to offer grants which make it possible to participate in IPSF regional and international congresses. Moreover, we still have the membership grant, which allows countries to remain members of IPSF without having to pay their fees if their financial situation does not permit them to. We strongly encourage all associations eligible for this grant to apply, as IPSF is more than happy to help active members which are experiencing difficulties but nonetheless wish to stay involved in the Federation.

This year, the DF is also working on clarifying its rules of application and assuring that only those candidates who need it actually obtain the grant. We have also started deliberations on eventual measures against those who obtain grants by providing false information.

For more information about the development fund please write to df@ipsf.org

Development Fund Recipient Attends Congress IPSF World Congress 2006 Cairns, Australia.

It is so far away, down under. We want to participate. Can we get there? Are we ready to do it? How? So many questions came into my mind when I got an email from IPSF about annual congress. Answers one by one appeared and in a wink I found myself in the plane on the way to Hong Kong, my stopover to Cairns.

My name is Juris Zakrevskis and I am from Latvia. It was my great honour to receive an IPSF Development Fund congress grant to attend the 52nd IPSF World Congress in Cairns, Australia in 2006. This was a first time for Latvian Pharmacy Student Association (LPSA) to participate in IPSF congress after becoming a full member two years ago. We managed it, we were lucky, we got a chance.

Two weeks immersed in an international group of pharmacists, not common pharmacy students, but flagships of all pharmacy students in the world. I have never before met so many active young people aiming for the same goal. I felt a huge responsibility upon me, representing Latvia in global arena for the first time. I did my best. I enjoyed all the General Assemblies and learnt a lot about IPSF, its structure, main goals and the people involved in it.

Sitting among other representatives from all around the world, thinking over proposed motions and voting on them made me feel like a small but important part of this unique formation that is IPSF. Talking with other students, sharing experiences of association work, problem solutions and building up new cooperation and projects were mixed with great parties and a lot of fun in the social part of congress.

After getting through all the lectures, workshops, General assemblies, lunch sandwiches and almost non-stop communication with people from around the whole world made me overcrowded with many new ideas about the future work of LPSA and international cooperation. We will continue our work in the direction of sustainability of SEP and cooperation with the medical students association on common goals. We will focus on national expressions of global problems such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Obesity and will try to give our small contribution towards global fight against them. Brain Drain is another problem we are facing, so we believe that working together in the international range towards education improvement in the Moving On project is essential. We are always ready for collaboration with IPSF and its projects!

And last, but not least, I am very proud of the great leap forward LPSA has taken in the last two years. I would like to express my huge gratitude to all active members of LPSA, other pharmacy students, professors, IPSF and everyone who supported us in our work.

La viva pharmacy!

Juris Zakrevskis LPSA Latvia

International Social Pharmacy Workshop (ISPW) Under the theme of public health, the 14th ISPW was held on 11 July 2006 in sunny and historical Oxford, United Kingdom and gathered together top experts and leaders in social pharmacy from across the globe. Following on from the work of IPSF and the FIP Pharmacy Information Section on patient counselling and concordance, a workshop was held at this conference for the first time. The aim of the workshop was to gather international experts in pharmacy education, patient counselling and pharmacy practice and initiate the development of new guidelines on patient counselling that take the concordant approach. Professor Marja Airaksinen and Dr Inka Puumalainen from the FIP Pharmacy Information Section and I gave background presentations and coordinated discussion groups.

The workshop was successful with all available seats taken in the room by the 24 attentive and enthusiastic experts taking part in the session. Lively discussion focused on closely examining the counselling process, reflecting on the appropriateness of the IPSF-FIP patient counselling tool and identifying future steps to progress efforts in the area. It was agreed that the main goals of the counselling initiatives in the future should be to develop patient counselling guidelines and develop a resource centre for concordance. It is important to keep the guidelines as simple and as usable as possible to facilitate widespread use and dissemination. IPSF and FIP now need to see how to best support the implementation of the concordance concept.

The participants felt that the work that IPSF and FIP have undertaken so far in developing the patient counselling booklet was significant and of value, however needed to be followed up with another publication. We were pleased to see that all participants in the workshop were interested in being part of an international team to assist in the development of ideas and work in the future. From this workshop, IPSF and

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Reports FIP will continue to work together to develop new patient counselling guidelines and revise the patient counselling tool as well as create other types of resources.

For more information please contact the new IPSF liaison on patient counselling, Rachida Bouamar of the Netherlands (rachidabouamar@hotmail.com), who will continue to work on behalf of IPSF in this exciting area. All the best to IPSF for future work in patient counselling, it has been a real honour and pleasure to be part of the developments over recent years.

Tana Wuliji FIP Project Co-ordinator/IPSF Moving On III Chairperson

WHO Intern Report When I started my first year of Pharmacy, I can frankly say that didn’t really know too much about the profession.

However, what I kept hearing from professors and other faculty members was that I had entered into a highly respected profession with many diverse opportunities. To a first year student in Canada, or well maybe just to me, that pretty much summed up as either hospital or community pharmacy.

Though over the course of the year, I learned more and more about how I could apply my degree to other areas of work, I never expected that I would have the opportunity to represent IPSF and Canadian pharmacy students as an intern at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva.

But on the night before my PHM128 (Pharmaceutical Practice I) final exam, I found out that I would be traveling to Switzerland for the summer. (and I barely got any sleep for my final!)

For two months this past summer, I interned with the Quality Assurance and Safety: Medicines team (QSM) in the department of Medicines Standards and Policy (PSM).

Working with pharmacists and scientists from all over the world including the Netherlands, Germany, England, China, Estonia, and Nigeria –just to name a few – I was able to broaden my perspectives on pharmacy practice in many regions of the world.

One of the major priority areas of WHO work, is to ensure access, quality, and rational use of medicines worldwide. This is no simple task given that one third of the world population does not have access to essential medicines, an estimated 25% of medicines consumed in developing countries are believed to be counterfeit, and irrational prescribing leads to worse treatment outcomes and may lead to increased resistance.

The primary goal of the PSM department is creation and promotion of global standards as outlined in Article 2 of the WHO Constitution, which cites that the Organization should “develop, establish, and promote international standards with respect to food, biological, pharmaceutical, and similar

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IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

products.” Most of the work done with the QSM team revolves around creating norms and guidelines for pharmaceuticals with a particular focus on essential medicines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Annually, they update the Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations and work on monographs for The International Pharmacopoeia. These publications enable national regulatory agencies to effectively oversee pharmaceutical production and trade and to assess the quality of medicines.

During my internship, I had the opportunity to work on three publications. I updated the Global Index of Pharmacopoeias and produced two advocacy publications about the challenges facing countries in producing or obtaining quality medicines. This work will further collaboration between WHO member states with respect to quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines. I also was able to participate in the Consultation on Specifications for Medicines and Quality Control Laboratory Issues. This was a stimulating three-day conference attended by leading international experts, where I was able to observe the peer review process pertaining to product monographs and WHO guidelines.

In addition to working at WHO, one of the highlights of the trip was being nearly face to face to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the UN, as he addressed WHO staff on the recent death of the WHO Director General and the status of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Mr. Annan was faced with tough questions from inquisitive interns, more specifically, regarding the absence of chronic disease from the MDGs, and it was interesting to watch him respond. He was caught somewhat off guard by such a bold question and said, “You say that you are only an intern?” Then, he laughed and commented that he was glad to see young adults and young females especially, questioning and challenging the inequities in our world.

During my 7 weeks at WHO, I was inspired by the experienced, highly qualified, and passionate pharmacists and scientists in PSM. Though I had read and heard that there was more to pharmacy than just community or hospital, this experience solidified that fact and is proof that our degrees are amenable to almost any subject area we are interested in whether it is from community to hospital or industry to international health.

Overall, I had an amazing experience interning at WHO and exploring the beautiful and lively city of Geneva. I am particularly grateful to IPSF, PSM, and Dr. Sabine Kopp for providing with me this remarkable opportunity. For more information regarding Medicines Standards and Policy and to link to Quality Assurance and Safety: Medicines see http://www.who.int/medicines.

Jennifer Teng, CAPSI Canada

Congresses IPSF Cairns 2006: Australian Pharmacy Success In July 2006 the National Australian Pharmacy Students’ Association was host to the biggest international pharmacy student event in recent history, the 52nd Annual World Congress of the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation, held for the first time in Australia.

Nearly 300 students and young pharmacists from 36 countries converged on Cairns, for an action-packed 10 days of education, networking, meetings and all-important pharmacy student revelry, in a unique Australian setting. This is what NAPSA’s international colleagues expected from their experience in the “land down under”, and NAPSA did not let them down! It was clear from the outset that all Australian pharmacy students were behind this historic event, with nearly a third of participants coming from Australian schools. This in itself was an achievement; there has never been such a large delegation from any one country at an IPSF Congress.

The Congress was held in Cairns; situated in tropical far north Queensland.

James Cook University’s Cairns Campus provided the ultimate setting for all congress sessions, with high quality lecture and tutorial rooms nestled amongst rainforest covered mountains north of Cairns city. Despite the all-night parties, early starts and lengthy journey to the University, every session was very well attended, in particular the JCU Opening Ceremony, where guests were welcomed by Professor Beverley Glass (JCU School of Pharmacy and Medical Science), Tim Logan (Queensland Branch President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia), Georgina Lippis (NAPSA National President 200506), and Katja Hakkarainen (IPSF President 2005-06), as well as a very warm welcome from the FIP President, Jean Parrot, via John Ware (President of the FIP Western Pacific Pharmaceutical Forum).

The majority of the official program focussed on the annual IPSF General Assembly and other related workshops, directed towards securing the future of the federation and its activities. The program concluded with the IPSF Pharmacy Symposium, covering the topics “Clinical Practice Skills and Pharmacy Education” and “Provision of Health Care in Rural and Remote Settings.” Lectures, workshops and discussion forums were lead by national and international experts in these fields, including Professor Ian Bates and Professor Catherine Duggan from the University of London, Professor Jennifer Marriott and Greg Duncan from the Victorian College of Pharmacy, Adam Phillips from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Lance Emerson from the Pharmacy Guild, Bhavini Patel from the Royal Darwin Hospital, and Amanda Sanburg from the Vanuatu Hospital.

According to Brooke Myers, NAPSA National President and member of the IPSF Congress Organising Committee, these sessions “not only encouraged students to think about the importance of life-long education as a pharmacist and healthcare professional, but also the responsibility we have

to endeavour to provide equitable and affordable access to healthcare services, for people in all parts of the world.”

The symposium was opened and moderated by Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom, who instilled in all a feeling of unity by confirming that the “pharmacy gene” was driving the work of our profession. In his closing remarks, Professor Sansom highlighted reasons for the need for continued involvement of pharmacists in the provision of community-focussed health care, regardless of the setting, and eluded to the passion demonstrated by each of the speakers as an example to all young pharmacists to get involved, be part of something useful, and uphold our professional accountability as a pharmacist.

The traditional IPSF Patient Counselling Event was given a new life during the congress, with the PSA, NAPSA and Alphapharm teaming up once again to emulate the Australian “Pharmacy Student of the Year” success on the international stage. This was showcased in the final session of the congress, where competition finalists demonstrated the skill of the pharmacist in front of a live IPSF audience. Participants were divided into three groups according to level of education and experience; the winners were Vidhu Pachauri (India), Rachida Bouamar (The Netherlands) and James Davies (The United kingdom).

All guests were accommodated at the “never-say-sleep” Gilligan’s Backpackers, situated in the heart of Cairns city. A true party venue, this was the base for most night time social activities, including the Welcome Party, Outdoor Movie Night, International Dress-up Night, IPSF Development Fund Auction, and Cairns Ultimate Party. Other nights included a traditional Aussie barbecue and sports night on the JCU oval, a pumped up beach party at the Ellis Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and the ultimate antipodean experience at AJ Hackett Bungy, where 120 pharmacy students took it in turns to plummet off of a 44 metre high jungle platform. The social program culminated at the stunning IPSF Gala Dinner, sponsored by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

NAPSA heralds this event as a success, not only for pharmacy students worldwide, but importantly for the profession of pharmacy in Australia. The support, both financially and professionally that NAPSA received was crucial to the implementation of the congress plans, from program development and logistics, to registration and promotion. This was emulated by the selection of sponsors, including the Pharmacy Guild as the Platinum Sponsor, the PSA and JCU School of Pharmacy as Gold Sponsors, and Pharmaceutical Defence Limited and the Australian Pharmacy Schools (represented by CHPSANZ) as Silver Sponsors. Program sponsors included Alphapharm, Symbion, Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, Project STOP, Therapeutic Guidelines and the Australian Journal of Pharmacy.

Viva la Pharmacie – Viva la Australian Pharmacy!

Joseph Whitehouse Chairperson, IPSF Congress Cairns 2006 Organising Committee IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

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Congresses DELEGATES DOWN UNDER

53rd IPSF World Congress 2007 - TAIWAN 6th-16th August

It was with soaring excitement that we packed up our national regalia, along with swimming cossies and flippers in early July last year. The destination was the tropical haven of sunny Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia, with the purpose of dutifully representing our pharmacy student associations and our countries as delegates at the 52nd IPSF World Congress.

300 students and young pharmacists from 45 countries, all with a shared enthusiasm for our profession gathered to avail of this unique opportunity to learn about pharmacy on a worldwide scale. The extremely action-packed Congress was very informative about IPSF and its activities. It incorporated interesting educational programmes and General Assembly sessions with fascinating social events and allowed exploration of the Great Barrier Reef and outback!

As full member organisations of IPSF, 28 countries had the privilege to vote at the General Assembly which is of course the highest decision-making body in IPSF. So on behalf of our student organisations we were influentially involved in motions discussing the work done in the past year and the future directions of IPSF….an important feat!

Along with dynamic and interactive workshops throughout the conference, there was also a two-day Pharmacy Symposium which focused on “Clinical Skills and Pharmacy Education” and “Provision of Health Care in Rural and Remote Settings”. We were fortunate to welcome distinguished speakers from all corners of the world, and who had joined us to deliver stimulating lectures on these timely and topical issues, in the good name of sharing their experiences and knowledge, thereby enhancing our education.

Party shoes were also of utmost importance, because on the jam-packed social front our hosts Down Under excelled themselves. The Full Moon Party where bungee-jumping was the name of the game was exhilarating! Beach parties and “barbies” gave us the ultimate taste of Aussie lifestyle and culture….beaut! Open Air Movie Night showing “Finding Nemo” put us in good spirits for snorkelling and diving on the Great Barrier Reef the next day. On International Night there was a wholly creative and fabulous display of patriotism and culture.

My first IPSF World Congress has made a lasting impression, so inspirational was it for me. Obviously I cannot help but to encourage fellow pharmacy students to take the most unparalleled opportunity of attending such events, if they can. It has truly broadened my horizons and opened interesting and important doors for me in the pharmacy world. Taipei in Taiwan is the supreme venue for the 53rd IPSF World Congress and I have no doubt that it to will go over and beyond our expectations. 6th-16th August 2007 is the all important date to put in your diaries, it is sure to be unforgettable.

Allison Coll, Medway School Of Pharmacy, United Kingdom

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Greetings IPSFers!

On behalf of the Reception Committee, it is my great pleasure to invite you to participate in the 53rd IPSF World Congress in Taiwan from August 6th to 16th, 2007.

Registration started from 1st of January, and ends on 30th of June. (the earlier you register, the cheaper it is!)

The Congress will follow the form of the successful one this last year in Cairns, Australia, which around 300 pharmacy students from all over the world attended and enjoyed.

Taipei, the main city of Taiwan, is famous not only for its well preserved architectural monuments, the exquisite Chinese culture, and friendly atmosphere but is also known as a crossroads of various social, cultural and scientific influences. This exciting city is a convenient location for professional meetings and for a comparison of various experiences.

The congress is designed to offer you varied educational opportunities balanced by a fun-filled social programme. We also provide additional workshops where you can experience the exquisite Chinese culture.

We look forward to your active participation in the 53rd IPSF Congress and to welcoming you to the beautiful city of Taipei in August, 2007.

For registration please visit the website www.ipsf2007.org Yu-Wen Angela Chang Chairperson of the Reception Committee 2007

54th IPSF World Congress 2008 Romania Hello IPSF-ers!

The 2008 Organizing Committee has the pleasure to inform you that this New Year has a double significance for Romania: we became, along with Bulgaria, a member state of the European Union and Sibiu has become the newest cultural capital of Europe.

After a “heavy” celebration of these important events, the OC is back to work, planning to organize a congress to exceed your expectations.

The congress will be held in Cluj-Napoca, the biggest city in Transylvania, the famous region of Dracula.

Here you have some facts about the congress: accommodation will be at Belvedere Hotel, a four star hotel, situated 5 minutes drive up hill from downtown, or a 10 minutes’ walk.

Regarding the programme, the OC will try to introduce you to the Romanian traditions, our ways of having fun, not forgetting about our amazing landscapes that inspired so many artists. For those who will choose to attend the post congress tour we have prepared a trip through the most representative regions of Romania.

Congresses At the moment we have people working on the website design; we think the best time to launch it would be just after the congress in Taiwan. The latest news about the congress will be available here online, as we intend to update it constantly. We want to offer an exciting run up to congress and to you give as many details as possible.

A detailed report about the congress will be presented during the 53rd IPSF Congress in Taiwan.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us ipsf_2008@yahoo.com. Look out for the IPSF Congress 2008 website – launching in September 2007.

Anca Pop On behalf of the 2008 Organising Committee Romania

5th IPSF Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) Indonesia 2006 The 5th Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) was held from 4-10 June 2006 in Bandung, Indonesia. Delegates experienced the beauty and culture of Indonesia while enlarging our knowledge in pharmacy. Accommodation was at the ‘Savoy Homann’ Hotel, a luxurious and historical hotel where all the presidents from Asian African countries stayed during the 1st and 50th Asia African Conference in 1955 and 2005.

Before APPS started, we had the 1st Training New Trainers (TNT) session from 2-4 June 2006. It was simple and fun with 11 participants from Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, and India. We learnt about ourselves, leadership, project management, public speaking, and had a great time during the project simulations in Dago street, the place where youngsters spend their weekends. Though it was the first TNT, participants learnt many things during this training that helped them to develop their organization skills. Feedback from the participants showed that the training was very productive.

At APPS itself we have total 272 students involved in this symposium from 11 countries (Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, Australia,

Singapore, Finland, UK) and many universities from all a r o u n d Indonesia. The symposiums and workshops were wonderful, with good speakers from all around Indonesia with very interactive discussions.

One of the most interesting moments in this symposium was the ‘save the passive smoker’ campaign in Bandung Indah Plaza. It’s one of the most popular shopping malls in Bandung and located in the center of the city. All of APPS participants were divided into small groups and went to several spots in Bandung city to distribute our fliers which had all the information about ‘passive smoking’ and later on we gathered in Bandung Indah Plaza and had a talkshow there with Prof.Andreanus (Pharmacologist from ITB) and Gail (Celebrity in Indonesia).

It was really fun as we distributed 4000 leaflets and get 1352 signatures that support this campaign (excluded APPS RC and participants). We were also on several local TV, radio, and newsletter. Fortunately, I as APPS chairperson, Jang (Chairperson of APRO at that time), and Katja (IPSF President at that time) had a chance to have a talkshow about antitobacco in Walagri Radio with approximately about 1000 listeners.

In this APPS, we also have many social activities that make all the participants really close to each other like traditional night, international night, visiting saung angklung Mang Udjo where little children teach us how to play angklung (Indonesian musical instrument), visiting Boscha observatory, and of course the gala night. Feedback from the participants shows that this APPS was excellent, and we believe that IPSFAPRO will grow stronger. During this one week meeting, the IPSF spirit really infected all the participants and we really experienced pharmacy students without borders………….

Audrey Clarissa Chairperson of 5th APPS Reception Committee

6th IPSF Asia Pacific Sympsium Nepal 2007

Pharmaceutical

Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal 15th – 25th July 2007 International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) – Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) is an annual program of Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) of IPSF where pharmacy students from all over Asia Pacific gather and discuss various topics within the world of pharmacy. The event has been held before in Singapore (2001), Taiwan (2002), Thailand (2004), Japan (2005), and Indonesia (2006) all of which turned out to be huge successes. This symposium would provide an ideal platform for enhancing knowledge, personality development, exposure to international culture, fun, socialization, networking, training and build communication as well as interaction skills. As it is an international

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Congresses occasion, it will give a golden opportunity for sponsors to promote their products at national and international level.

Training, welcome party and interaction, workshop, traditional and international nights, symposium, APRO regional meeting, free nights, anti-tobacco campaign, Auction, gala dance, visit to pharmacy department, pharmaceutical industries and hospital are the major attraction of Sixth IPSF – APPS. Training for trainers (TfT), symposium and post-symposium tour will be held from 15th to 17th, 18th to 22nd and 23rd to 25th July 2007 respectively. The symposium is going to be held in a touristic place, Dhulikhel, Nepal. Kathmandu and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares, Lumbini and Pokhara will be the destination for the post symposium tour. Online registration starts from 1st December 2006. Be the first to register for it.

For more information, please visit www.ku.edu.np/apps2007 or email to apps2007@ku.edu.np

Pan American Regional Symposium 2006 The 5th Pan-American Regional Symposium (PARS) was held in Quito, Ecuador from May 26-30, 2006. About 22 students from North and South America attended this annual IPSF conference. The organising committee worked hard to develop the educational and cultural programme.

In addition to information about IPSF and project management, students gained from presentation topics which ranged from intellectual property, dermopharmacy, medicinal plant investigation and development, and nanotechnology. A big thank you is due to the voters and note-taker during the regional assembly. A round of applause is given to Rocio Mendez (USA), Regional Relations Officer 2005-2006 for her dedication to translating presentations, speeches and announcements to all participants in addition to her contributions over the past year.

The four main topics discussed during the assembly were a regional newsletter, translation, PARS 2007 and regional committees. Regional committees were created for students to be involved with translation and assisting with PARS 2007.

Although no country bid for PARS 2007 during the symposium, Costa Rica volunteered at a later date.

After the educational program it was time to experience Quito! The first evening activity was a tour of the beautiful Colonial Quito. The churches, buildings and squares built in the sixteenth century (over what was part of the Incan empire) are so wonderfully preserved they have been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. The following evening, a tour of Quito by chiva was provided. A

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chiva is large, two-story, open-air bus with a band playing music on the top. Everyone had a great time taking in the sights, tapping with the beat and shouting ¡Galopar! to onlookers.

Pan American Regional Symposium 2007 The 6th Pan-American Regional Symposium (PARS) was held 25-28 May in San José, Costa Rica. There were a record number of participants at this year’s PARS with 92 pharmacy stu-

dents attending! The PARS Organizing Committee worked hard to develop the excellent programme, accommodations, and social activities for the participants.

Since this year’s theme was “Leadership in Pharmacy,” the presentations focused on professional, personal, and business leadership. Additionally, several speakers discussed current local research projects including treatment discoveries for Chagas disease and new innovations in biopharmaceuticals.

Bringing IPSF to Costa Rica played a crucial role in sparking the interest of Costa Rican students to join the Federation.

Over twenty years have passed since the last pharmacy student conference was held in Costa Rica. Another mile stone to occur this year was the joint participation of all four pharmacy universities in one central conference! During PARS, the student presidents and leaders from each university met to lay down the foundations for forming one national Costa Rican pharmacy student organisation. Hopefully, we will be able to welcome Costa Rica as a full member of IPSF in 2008!

As with most IPSF events, there is always time for a little socializing and adventure. Nothing beats a relaxing night of salsa dancing as an introduction to the local culture. Two hours away from the city, participants marveled at the untouched beauty of the rainforest canopy as they flew by on a zip line.

Another worthwhile adventure was trekking to the top of a volcano to view the world’s largest crater.

Between accepting the heartwarming Costa Rican hospitality, making many new friends and developing plans for IPSF activities, this was definitely a PARS to remember!

Karen McGill Pan-American Regional Chairperson 2005-2007 Shawna Cordon Pan-American Regional Chairperson 2007-2008

Congresses IPSF Representing Students at FIP Congress, Brazil 2006

IPSF spirit among them was one of the highlights of the congress.

The World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the 66th International Congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), was held in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, from August 25 to 31 2006.

IPSF was represented by past executive members Ellen Diedrichsen, Katja Hakkarainen and Yasmine Koraiem. The theme of the congress was Innovations in Patient Care and the programme involved a great variety and large number of sessions, three of which were organised by IPSF.

Throughout the seven-day congress, IPSF participated in various business meetings, including the FIP Council Meeting and the meeting of the FIP Board Pharmaceutical Practice. This year, elections for the FIP Bureau brought additional excitement to the Council Meeting. IPSF congratulates new Bureau members, in particular the new FIP President, Professor Kamal K. Midha. During the business meetings, IPSF met with many of our professional partners, presented the IPSF Annual Report 2005-06 and discussed future collaboration, in particular in relation to the 67th FIP Congress in Beijing, China, in September 2007.

At the session Learning for Practice, co-organised by IPSF and the FIP Academic Pharmacy Section, invited speakers presented innovative ways to develop practical skills in pharmacy students and practitioners, for example though the involvement of virtual or real patients in pharmacy education. Ellen presented the results of IPSF’s Moving On II research project on pharmacy education, raising discussion on the need for curriculum reform.

The topic of the FIP & IPSF Students’ Day was Community Pharmacy – Advancing Patient Care. Speakers from Brazil, Portugal, India and Australia introduced health services provided by community pharmacists and ways pharmacists can extend their role in patient care. One of the presented initiatives was the Indian TB (tuberculosis) Fact Card Project that IPSF and the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA) successfully concluded in April 2006.

IPSF and the FIP Pharmacy Information Section repeated the session Counselling, Concordance and Communication – Innovative Education for Pharmacists following its overwhelming success the previous year when the joint patient counselling booklet of the same title was launched. The authors and editors of the booklet engaged the audience in a discussion of the core contents of the booklet: concordant patient counselling involving the patient as an equal partner.

Patient Counselling Events (PCEs) organised by IPSF member organisations were also presented as examples of utilising the booklet to practise medication counselling and communication skills.

The FIP Industrial Pharmacy Section organised a session entitled Industrial Pharmacy Education and Practice where students and young pharmacists had an opportunity to present on industrial pharmacy in their country and win 500 Euros.

Anita Kristensen from Denmark represented IPSF in the jury that awarded the best presenter.

At the exhibition area, congress participants could familiarise themselves with regional and international pharmaceutical organisations and companies. At the IPSF booth, IPSF distributed promotional material and met with many partners, professionals and students. Learning about pharmacy in Brazil, meeting with Brazilian pharmacy students and spreading the

After hard work each day, we enjoyed a vivid evening programme in the colourful city of Salvador da Bahia. Students and young pharmacists got together in the traditional International Evening, organised by the FIP Young Pharmacists Group and IPSF, where Brazilian students demonstrated spectacular Brazilian dancing. The congress finished with a relaxed Brazilian atmosphere at the Adeus Brazil Party on a beach.

According to the evaluation of the congress, IPSF’s programme was amongst the best. Hopefully many IPSFers will take the opportunity to participate in the 67th FIP Congress in Beijing, China in 2007.

Katja Hakkarainen IPSF Immediate Past President

IPSF to FIP Congress, Beijing 2007 IPSF is usually represented only by Executive members and oldies at FIP Congresses. Hence for the coming 67th FIP Congress in Beijing, China, we’re calling for all IPSFers to join us there. The more the merrier!

FIP is the global federation of national organisations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. Just like IPSF, they hold a congress in a different member country each year. The congress in Beijing will be held from 31st August to 6th September 2007 with the theme “From Anecdote to Evidence: Pharmacists Helping Patients Make the Best Use of Medicines”. Apart from the main congress symposia on complementary and alternative medicine, there will also be sessions by the FIP Board of Pharmaceutical Practice (BPP) and Board of Pharmaceutical

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Congresses Sciences (BPS) addressing a variety of issues.

IPSF has now been organising sessions of interest and relevance to pharmacy students at FIP congresses for about 14 years. For Beijing, in addition to the FIP-IPSF Students’ Day which will explore the oft-overlooked social dimensions of developing the pharmacy workforce and profession, we will be having three other joint sessions with the FIP Young Pharmacists Group (YPG) and BPP Sections.

Following the highly successful session with the Academic Pharmacy Section in Brazil, we have co-organised a session on Experiential Learning to explore the concept and value of such practice-based learning in pharmacy curricula.

Collaboration with the Pharmacy Information Section continues as we discuss Medication Reviews as a tool for implementing pharmaceutical care into healthcare practice.

IPSF, YPG and the Community Pharmacy Section will have a joint forum to debate on some controversial Trends in Community Pharmacy, such as prescribing by pharmacists and deregulation of pharmacy ownership. All IPSF sessions are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).

Of course, what’s IPSF without fun and play? Apart from the opening cocktail reception, BPP Section dinners, YPG Welcome Dinner and Gala Night, IPSF and YPG will also be having our joint International Evening where pharmacy students and young pharmacists can get together for some social interaction.

While IPSF congresses focus on the administration and activities of our Federation, student issues and cultural exchange, FIP congresses are the perfect opportunity to keep ourselves updated on professional pharmaceutical issues and to network with international pharmacy colleagues at varying stages of their careers. IPSF members can also help to man our exhibition booth to showcase IPSF (and the IPSF spirit!) to congress attendees.

For more information and updates, check out the congress website www.fip.org/CONGRESS/beijing2007 See you there, in the ancient splendour of Beijing!

Zhining Goh Chairperson of Education and Practice 2006-07

21st Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA) Congress, Japan 18-21 November 2006 IPSF was invited to host a student session at the FAPA Congress held in Yokohama, Japan. The theme of the conference was ‘Developing a New Role for the Pharmacist in Healthcare’. As students we aimed to put forward new ideas and small group discussion on contemporary roles for pharmacists, which was later shared via group presentation to the entire audience.

These topics included the following: 1. Specialisation of roles in pharmacy allowing hospital pharmacists to specialize in key areas similar to that of medicine giving way to more opportunity in allied health team work by having expertise in area of interest. 2. Continuing education for all pharmacists as a license renewal requirement, allowing all pharmacists both young and old to keep up to date with the latest drug information and being competent in our role for optimal patient care. 3. Community pharmacists as triage in society as the most accessible front-line health care professionals, we should encourage our role of referring or treating clinical cases using over the counter medicines as our tools.

All discussions showed encouraging and stimulating feedback which proved rewarding to all participants. As the future of the profession, it’s great to have new innovative ideas to move with the dynamic changes in health care systems. We also included short presentations of IPSF-APRO from John Nguyen (Australia) and Moving On II results from Ganesh Subedi (Nepal) and Izumi Nasu (Japan) which was of great interest to other professionals participating in the session.

We also thank all group moderators and committee members who helped organise the FAPA student session leading up to the conference.

John Nguyen Chairperson of Asia-Pacific Regional Office

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Congresses Meeting of the Joint Working Group for WorldHSS 2007 in Portugal At the last weekend of November 2006, the 2nd meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) took place in Lisbon and Albufeira, Portugal. Micheline Götti and Kerstin Neumann were present as JWG members for IPSF, and A u d r e y Clarissa ( I P S F Pr e s i d e n t ) also joined the meeting as IPSF s u p e r v i s o r.

We arrived in Lisbon on Friday night, just in time for dinner together with the Organising Committee. After the first meeting in Geneva in May, it was great to see the other JWG members again – and meet others who weren’t able to come to Geneva.

OC. Samuel Ribeiro, medical student and member of the Supervising Council of the OC, was at the meeting for the whole day to answer all our questions. The Organizing Committee is working very hard on the preparations for WorldHSS 2007 and has done an awesome job so far. Every issue that arose was discussed very openly and the whole JWG left the meeting with the good feeling that the symposium will be very well organized.

On Monday, it was already time to say goodbye until April, when the next and last face to face meeting of the JWG before WorldHSS will take place in the Netherlands. The Joint Working Group has become a group of really good friends, so we are all looking forward to seeing each other again in a couple of months to continue our work to make a great symposium for you.

Watch out for news at www.worldhss.org!

Kerstin Neumann IPSF delegate Joint Working Group for WorldHSS 2007

On Saturday we got up early to get the bus from Lisbon to Albufeira for a site visit to the World Healthcare Students Symposium 2007 venue. Pedro Lucas came with us and was a great guide, and we were impressed by the hotel and conference centre, which is equipped with big meeting rooms, comfortable 3- or 4–person bedrooms and several bars. We used one of the meeting rooms for our meeting, and advanced significantly in our planning of the programme.

The educational programme of WorldHSS will focus on four main topics, one for each day: Education, Ethics Day, Global Health and Interprofessional Collaboration. Each day of the symposium will be organized by 3 persons from the JWG, one from each healthcare profession. In this way we are already experiencing the multidisciplinary cooperation – and enjoy it a lot!

During the symposium you will also have extra scheduled time to meet and get to know other health care student’s from your own country. Another highlight will be solving a case study in international and multidisciplinary teams during the symposium. More details on the programme can be found at www.worldhss.org!

After returning to Lisbon and enjoying a very social evening together with many OC members, we used the meeting time on Sunday to discuss the plans for the symposium with the

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Regions IPSF Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO)

IPSF Pan- American Regional Office (PARO)

The last few months have been very busy and successful for IPSF-APRO. Congratulations and welcome to Bangladesh as new Full Members in APRO region!

Nene has gained several contacts from China, South Korea and Pakistan. Yash has been busy preparing Tobacco Alert campaign materials for APRO, and Angga and Tendy have done a great job working on the new APRO website and materials!

And thanks to Mary for being our super organised secretary!

The hard-work of the Regional Working Group and two new committees has lead to progress within the Pan-American region.

New Zealand, Auckland, September 06 A presentation was made to the Auckland Pharmacy Students Association as well as numerous meetings, informing them of the benefits of IPSF. Although the national student body has been lacking in student activities lately, they are now highly interested and there will even be a few kiwi students attending the upcoming NAPSA Australia Congress! And very hopeful to see more kiwis at IPSF congress in future.

The 57th World Health Organisation (WHO) WPRO (Western Pacific Regional Office) health ministers meeting was also held in Auckland at the same time, which John was privileged to present about IPSF to the WPRO delegates for the first time in it’s history.

Japan, November 06 The 21st FAPA (Federation of Asia Pharmaceutical Associations) congress was held in Yokohama. IPSF hosted a student session, chaired by Izumi Nasu which can be read in this News Bulletin.

In Tokyo, John held meetings with the APS-Japan executive for tips and advice to constitute a stronger committee and succession process. APS-J was the first country to hold the Training New Trainers (TNT) program in Asia Pacific, thanks to Yoko Gocho and Izumi Nasu. It is an enormous achievement that APS-Japan is now considering the possibility of applying for full IPSF membership at the next IPSF Taiwan Congress 2007. Congratulations to Maiwako, newly elected APS-J president and Mizue Takahashi, newly elected APS-J Contact Person for IPSF. Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur December 06 With numerous meetings held within a week, over 10 local student pharmacy associations across Malaysia were united for the first time as the Malaysia Pharmacy Student Association (MyPSA). John was invited to chair the first national meetings between universities to form MyPSA and also chair the elections for the inaugural executive committee. Well done to Ahmed Munis, who was the first Malaysian to attend the APPS congress in Indonesia earlier this year, and has been an integral part in organizing the meetings.

Congratulations to Munis also, for being the first elected president of MyPSA! 6th APPS, Kathmandu Nepal 18-23 July 2007 Registration opened on 1 Dec 2006! Check http://www.ku.edu.np/apps2007/ for more details!

Visit the ALL NEW APRO website http://apro.ipsf.org

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out

The Pan-American Regional Symposium (PARS) Development committee is helping the PARS Organising Committee confirm speakers and program details. We can now proudly announce that PARS 2007 will be 24-29 May in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Esteban Yong, Organising Committee Chairperson, has confirmed the theme as “Leadership in Pharmacy”.

The Translation committee has written many emails and other documents, including the official regional documents, into both English and Spanish. In early 2007 we will be piloting our new partnership program “Amigos de Americanas” which students from North and South America are connected via email.

We will also create the first regional newsletter in early 2007 with articles in both English and Spanish. Future plans include development of the regional webpage and increased student exchange. If you are interested in any of these activities, please contact the Pan-American Regional Chairperson at paro@ipsf.org. Hope to see you at PARS! Karen McGill Chairperson of Pan-American Regional Office

Esquina de PARO El trabajo difícil del Grupo de Funcionamiento Regional y dos nuevos comités a guiado en el progreso dentro de la región panamericana.

El comité de Desarrollo de PARS esta ayudando al Comité de Organización de PARS a confirmado detalles del programa y de los porta voces. Podemos anunciar orgullosamente ahora que las PARS 2007 sera del 24 al 29 de mayo en San José, Costa Rica. Esteban Yong, Organizador del Comité, ha confirmado el tema es “Mando en la Farmacia”.

El comité de Traducción ha escrito muchos correos electrónicos y otros documentos, incluso los documentos regionales oficiales, tanto en inglés como en español. A principios de 2007 empezaremos nuestro nuevo programa asociado “Amigos de Americanas” en qué estudiantes del Norte y Sudamérica están relacionados vía correo electrónico.

También crearemos el primer boletín de noticias regional a principios de 2007 con artículos tanto en inglés como en español. Los futuros proyectos incluyen el desarrollo de la página Web regional y cambio de estudiante aumentado. Si usted está interesado en cualquiera de estas actividades, por favor póngase en contacto con el Presidente Regional panamericano en paro@ipsf.org. ¡Esperanza verle en PARS!

Allied Associations European Pharmaceutical Students Association (EPSA)

International Federation Associations (IFMSA)

Dear IPSF Friends,

It’s with the greatest pleasure that I write this short article for you! I would like to introduce myself writing on behalf of the IFMSA, (the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations) your sister organisation for medical students.

It was with great pleasure that I’ve accepted IPSF kind invitation to write some words on the behalf of the EPSA Executive.

Last July, I’ve had the opportunity to attend the last IPSF Annual Congress, in Cairns and to start what has been until now a fruitful collaboration between both organisations. To generate a mutual understanding on topics that have been discussed in latest years, for the first time in history, EPSA and IPSF signed a Memorandum of Understanding during the last EPSA Autumn Assembly that took place in Vienna, last October. EPSA and IPSF believe this is the right path to follow in order to strengthen the alliance and the beneficial impact for the students we represent.

Considering there is a need of reinforcing education, training and continuing professional development of Pharmacists in what concerns their core expertise, the “Role of EPSA in Lifelong Learning” was chosen as topic for the next EPSA Annual Reception that will take place in Brussels, next 1st of March, 2007. We aim to discuss with EPSA professional partners new approaches to motivate European pharmacy students to acquire additional competences and skills and how to strengthen the EPSA Lifelong Learning Certificate Project, giving it an official recognition by professional entities.

At this moment, the Executive is finalising the work on the Annual Questionnaire, which aims to investigate European students’ overview on “What society needs from pharmacists”. This very broad topic allows us to explore the answers to this question through several perspectives. During the next EPSA Annual Congress (12th -22nd of April, The Hague, The Netherlands) we are planning to cover the pharmacist’s experience and explore the specific requirements on multiple areas such as Public Health, Pharmacy Awareness and Education, Professional Development, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Humanitarian Action.

At least, I would like to wish you all a fruitful 2007 filled with health, prosperity and great achievements.

Of

Medical

Student

Over the years the relationship between our organisations has been improving and we only hope to get closer still. This small article I would like to use to give you a brief introduction to us, in the comfortable knowledge to have more small columns in the future where some of our most interesting projects can see the spotlight!

IFMSA is a global forum for medical students all over the world to share ideas and work together on projects. Our focus always is to educate all health care students about global health. We work by organising projects, exchange programs but also workshops and seminars are organised on national and local levels to educate medical students about the most important health care issues nowadays. Please visit our website, www.ifmsa.org, to get a more detailed overview about our organisation, here you can also find a description of all our projects.

Now we are all focused on our March Meeting which will be held in Perth, Australia this year. This is one of the two general assemblies we have each year, in structure they are comparable to yours. It is here were the board members of all our national member organisations gather to join in workshops and discuss the future of our organisation. Last year you president joined us in Chile, we are very happy to see IPSF in Australia this time too.

If you have any questions or would like some more information, please feel free to contact me by sending an email to: lso@ifmsa.org.

On behalf of IFMSA Jessica Simonetti Liaison Officer to Students Organizations International Federation of Medical Student’ Associations

Yours in Pharmacy, Sérgio Pancadas EPSA President 2006-2007 president@epsa-online.org

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How To Get Involved How to Get Involved in IPSF? IPSF offers its members various opportunities to get involved in the Federation, which span everything from organising activities at a local level to working abroad in an international health organisation. Member associations of IPSF coordinate these activities at local and national levels and inform their student members about international opportunities. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the member association of IPSF in your country or directly IPSF at ipsf@ipsf.org.

Student Exchange Programme The IPSF Student Exchange Programme (SEP) is global programme criss-crossing students from all corners of the world in the name of an international pharmacy experience. Approximately 50 different countries participate in SEP, with upwards of 500 students placed in exchanges annually. SEP runs throughout the year, with the majority exchanges taking place between May and September. The length of placements is usually from one to three months, and possible hosts include retail pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, wholesale companies, pharmaceutical industry, schools of pharmacy, government, private health agencies, and even the World Health Organization (WHO). The application process is simple and convenient – you can apply right online! All students who are members of IPSF are eligible. Students can be either Individual Members or members of an IPSF Member association in their country.

Professional Development IPSF is dedicated to developing the profession and increasing public awareness and appreciation of the pharmacist as a vital member of the healthcare team. The Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign (PPAC) aims to increase general awareness of the pharmacy profession amongst other healthcare professionals and the public. The Patient Counselling Event (PCE) and the Clinical Skills Event (CSE) provide opportunities for pharmacy students worldwide to develop their skills and pharmacy education. IPSF provides material and resources to its members to organise these activities in their countries. These activities are also commonly organised at IPSF events.

Promoting Public Health IPSF members are eligible to participate in all public health initiatives of IPSF, and receive support, advice, information and encouragement regarding their own public health interests, whilst increasing awareness of the pharmacist as a key player in public health. There are several main campaigns that IPSF encourages throughout the year.

These include HIV/AIDS Awareness, Healthy Living and Diabetes, Tobacco Awareness, World Health Day, and World TB (tuberculosis) Day. IPSF holds Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and through this partnership, is able to develop campaigns, publicise efforts, and receive valuable resources and opportunities for members.

Research Projects: Moving On II and Moving On III IPSF is committed to original research in the area of pharmacy education and professional satisfaction. The Moving On II research project is a global questionnaire-based study looking into pharmacy students’ academic experiences and pharmacy education. The Moving On III research project studies the “Brain Drain” phenomenon by surveying final year pharmacy students’ intentions and aspirations to migrate. Thousands of questionnaires for more than 20 countries have already been analysed to be published soon. New countries are welcome to join!

IPSF Events One of the simplest ways to participate is to attend one of the many events organised by IPSF. IPSF events offer educational forums, scientific symposia, poster exhibitions, workshops about IPSF activities, and of course the opportunity to socialise with peers from all over the world while becoming familiar with local culture. The IPSF Development Fund grants students from less developed countries opportunities to take part in these events by offering travel support. Please check the events at the back cover of this IPSF News Bulletin for more information on these.

IPSF Positions Each year an Executive Committee of nine IPSFers is elected at the IPSF Congress. Members of various SubCommittees, working on developing the federation and supporting its activities, are appointed. The Regional Offices of IPSF have Regional Working Groups promoting IPSF at a regional level. Each Member Country elects or appoints an IPSF Contact Person and an IPSF Student Exchange Officer who represent their national or local organisation in IPSF. These dedicated individuals work all year so that their peers may have the opportunity to expand their professional horizons. IPSF is always looking for hard working, dedicated students who would like to enthusiastically fulfill these roles.

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IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

How To Get Involved

Date: 6th-16th August 2007 Website: www.ipsf2007.org Location: Taiwan

IPSF News Bulletin— Issue 37, May 2007

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BE THERE!!