IPSF Public Health SPOT, Issue 3

IPSF Public Health Spot | July 2013

IPSF'ers Campaigning Around The Globe

Public Health Newsletter issue 3

publichealth@ipsf.org http://publichealth.ipsf.org

ipsf.org www.

Since establishment in 1949, IPSF now represents more than 270 000 pharmacy students and recent graduates in over 70 countries worldwide.

IPSF is the leading international advocacy organisation of pharmacy students promoting improved public health through provision of information, education, networking, and a range of publication and professional activities.

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Ms. Sheena Patel

Public Health Involvement

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Diabetes and Healthy Living Page 4

HIV/AIDS Awareness Page 8

Anti Tuberculosis Page 12

Anti Counterfeit Drugs Page 16

Medicine Awareness Page 21

Anti Tobacco Page 24

Humanitarian Page 26

Issue #6, July 2013

Design & Layout

Ms.IPSFAlexandra Marques Chairperson of Media and Publications Cover photo

Fahmi Fuady Proofread by

Ms. Yuqian Liu [Editor-in-Chief] Ms. Neo E-on Ms. Hannah Svedlund Mr. Jason Hong Ms. Sheena Patel Chairperson of Media and Publications publications@ipsf.org Editor-in-Chief editor@ipsf.org

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Dear IPSF’ers, My name is Sheena Patel, and I am a pharmacy student at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, United States. I am currently in my last year of pharmacy school, and I am in charge of putting together the latest edition of the IPSF SPOT. This magazine features unique IPSF patient care events from pharmacy students all over the world. Included in the issue are articles that discuss events associated with IPSF topics such as educating the public about a prevalent disease in certain countries. I hope you enjoy reading each of these events and become motivated and excited to carry out IPSF Patient Care Campaigns. Please share this with other IPSF’ers in your country. Enjoy and please feel free to E-mail me with any comments or concerns!

In the end, I would like to give a big thanks to Hager Ben Mosbah, who gave me this opportunity to be in charge of the latest edition of the SPOT, Alexandra Marques who helped me put together everything for this magazine, Yuqian Liu, who helped me edit all of the articles for this magazine, Fahmi Fuady, who helped me put the magazine together and answered all of my question, and everyone who contributed an article to this magazine! I could not put this magazine together without them, so I thank all again for this precious opportunity!

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content

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Editorial

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Ms. Christine Cooper, IPSF Chairperson of Public Health 2011-12

Public Health Involvement Dear IPSFers, As it is with all of the planning for IPSF World Congresses, the road to the World Congress’Public Health Campaign starts long before Congress does. Each Chairperson of Public Health works alongside an organizing committee member in order to develop, organize, and implement that year’s campaign. Having someone from the organizing committee helping is crucial to the success of the campaign. This person is the one who knows the local laws, has the ability to get all of the materials together, and works with the vendors. The Chairperson of Public Health is there to ensure the campaign applies to not only the country the World Congress is being held in but also each member IPSF country attending.

Each country learns the practice of pharmacy just a little bit differently than the next. Pulling everyone’s knowledge and experiences together to make a useful, productive campaign is the hardest task. However, it is also the most rewarding portion of the campaign. In my opinion, learning about how pharmacy is practiced elsewhere is why we attend World Congress.

The first year I attended World Congress was in 2010 when it was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The Public Health Campaign focused on HIV/ AIDS prevention, and we went around to various places in town to distribute information and talk

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with people. The language barrier only posed a problem with a few people, and it was solved with the aid of our Slovenian reception committee member. It was fascinating to not only share my thoughts to a different audience than what I was used to back home but to also hear how others approached the topic of prevention. This has been the case every year I have participated.

Each campaign offers something new. That something new is YOU. Whether you went to a previous congress or this is your first congress, your experiences and knowledge help bring together each campaign. Even if you do not think you know enough about the topic, getting out and participating will help you learn and grow as a student pharmacist and ultimately add to your abilities as a pharmacist. Whether at home or at World Congress, I challenge you to get out and get involved in Public Health Campaigns. They improve not only your patients’ lives but yours as well.

“Even if you do not think you know enough about the topic, getting out and participating will help you learn and grow as a student pharmacist and ultimately add to your abilities as a pharmacist.”

public health Tobacco Cessation Campaign, Hat Yai, Thailand - 2011

Diabetes and Healthy Living Awareness Campaign, Hurghada, Egypt - 2012 IPSF Public Health Spot

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Ms. Lina Salama, Contact Person of EPSF (Egypt)

Diabetes Awareness Campaign Diabetes mellitus is one of the most widespread chronic diseases in almost all countries. The disease continues to increase in numbers and significance due to the changing lifestyles which lead to reduced physical activity, and increased obesity. The global prevalence of DM in the year 2010 among adults has been estimated to be 6.4%. It is estimated that by the year 2030, Egypt will have at least 8.6 million adults with diabetes.

Since obesity and lifestyle are among the main causes of diabetes, EPSF started spreading awareness about the causes of diabetes and the lifestyle modifications that should be done whether you’re diabetic, pre-diabetic, or nondiabetic. Also, the recent WHO Stepwise survey of non-communicable diseases in Egypt, showed

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the prevalence of known diabetes to be 6.0%.

This significantly low percent meant that along with awareness blood glucose level tests should be carried out as many diabetics are unaware of the fact that they have diabetes!

Lifestyle changes need a continuous supervision as studies show that patients comply with lifestyle changes for a very short time then go back to the unhealthy lifestyle. EPSFers decided to help diabetic patients stick to their radically changing lifestyle by following up with the patients under the supervision of a physician for at least 4 weeks.

EPSFers across the country were asked to find diabetics workers at their universities who might

Before starting the follow up, EPSFers had to be very well equipped with the knowledge and information needed for the follow up; Local Associations started preparing the members through holding scientific preparatory Phases covering the following topics:

Phase One: Sessions 1) Introduction to Pancreas.

Phase 4: Follow Up Follow up with 12 of the diabetic working staff in the university for at least 4 weeks.

As well as following up with diabetic patients, EPSFers held awareness campaigns in many different areas, talked to the public about the disease, how to avoid it, and how to lead a healthy lifestyle while carrying out blood glucose level tests.

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be unable to follow up with a physician and start providing them with information regarding the disease, drugs, and diet. Students also helped patients in adjusting their lifestyle while regularly checking their blood glucose level.

Several creative ideas were done by EPSFers to grab the attention of the public to the campaign like Cycling, motivational videos, awareness boards and more.

2) Types of diabetes.

3) Treatments of diabetes:

a) Insulin, Metformin, Glimepiride, Gliclazide, Glibenclamide.

b) Pharmacokinetics.

c) Mode of action.

d) Side effects.

e) Contraindications.

f ) Drug –Drug interactions.

The sessions were obligatory to ensure that only members equipped with enough knowledge will deal with targeted audience.

Phase 2: Life Style Modification The awareness team was informed about all the lifestyle modification that needed with Diabetic patients.

Phase 3: Drugs The Awareness team must have a great knowledge of the top five famous hypoglycemic drugs in the Egyptian Markets, (Insulin, Metformin, Glimepiride, Gliclazide, Glibenclamide ) their mode of action , side effects and how to deal with side effects which may be caused by the drug.

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Ms. Asma Sellami, Chairperson of Public Health of ATEP (Tunisia)

Diabetes and Healthy Living Campaign Report to prevent it through measuring blood sugar and blood pressure levels.

Methods and used tools/materials: Tools/Materials: a. 2 glucometers, 200 strips, 200 needles. b. Blood pressure monitor (electronic and manual) Date, time and location of the campaign: 1) 20th of October from 3 pm to 5 pm next to the supermarket in Mahdia.

2) 14th of November from 9 am to 4 pm in the local train station in Monastir.

Number and type of target audience: People at risk (overweight) and the elderly.

Number of students taking part in the activity:

c. Banners, posters, flyers.

Tagline:

“If you want a sweet life for yourself, watch out for the sugar from now.”

Description: The campaign happened in several steps: -

A training about the disease.

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A preparation workshop for the posters and the flyers.

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A workshop on how to talk about Diabetes to people.

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A first campaign during the National Congress in Mahdia that ended up with a flash mob.

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A second campaign during World’s Diabetes Day with blood sugar measuring and patient counseling.

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Other organizations or parties involved in the activity: BIONIME company laboratories.

and

“Parachimiques”

Description of the activity: Background and aims: Raise awareness about the disease and the ways 6

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The campaign and the workshop took place during the 7th National Congress of the Pharmacy Student organized by ATEP in Mahdia.

1) The Workshop: “How to talk about Diabetes?�

The main goal of this workshop was to prepare the students and give them a little preview of how it is going to be like during the campaign. It was set in the form of a competition. The group would be divided into 3 teams and play games like a small quiz on diabetes and a simulation of the awareness campaign (sketches improvised by participants).

Those interested in the measurement of blood glucose and blood pressure were given a number.

Booth No. 1 was for the odd number and No. 2 for even numbers.

Meanwhile, participants provided advice to people waiting for their turn.

The event continued until 3 pm.

At 7 pm, everyone met over a coffee at a cafĂŠ called Haroune (an old traditional house restored and converted into a public place) and as required by the tradition, we lit it up in blue!

Organization of the activity:

2) The Campaign:

Timeline of organizing the activity:

It started in front of a popular supermarket in Mahdia. For 2 hours, the members addressed the passersby and the customers with only one simple purpose: inform and warn. Back at the hotel, the campaign ended with a flash mob and a human chain.

3 months.

Number of students involved in organizing: 25 in Mahdia, 40 in Monastir.

Advertisement of the activity:

II. Monastir:

Facebook, posters at the university and the local radio.

A march began from the faculty to the train station. About twenty students participated.

Comments and/or ideas arising from the activity:

The space occupied at the station was between the door and the window.

The train station was a great location for the campaign; sheltered from bad weather, it helps targeting a new range of people from different generations. The stand is never empty as there are always waiting passengers.

The event started at 10 am. Participants addressed travelers, distributed flyers and invited them to visit the stand.

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I. Mahdia:

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Mr. Mohan Shrestha, IPSF HIV/AIDS Awareness Coordinator 2012-13

HIV/AIDS Awareness Coordinator speaks...

“Although associations contribute to this campaign from different continents, countries and cultures, they all share one aim and noble purpose of raising the level of awareness and interest in this public health issue. “ Dear IPSFers, AIDS, a global pandemic, has had a great impact on society, both as an illness and as a source of discrimination. To reduce the impact of the global pandemic, awareness has been spreading throughout the world since the WHO declared December 1st as the World AIDS day. IPSF, the leading international advocacy organization, is a strong advocate of HIV/AIDS by means of awareness. Its members have played a strong role in sharing the information, education, medical and scientific knowledge they have with the public for promoting improved public health.

Pharmacy students from all around the globe have raised their voices for “Getting to Zero” and to help prevent discrimination. Although associations contribute to this campaign from different continents, countries and cultures, they all share one aim and noble purpose of raising the level of awareness and interest in this public health issue. Participants gathered in different places from all over the world and carried out the campaigns on the World AIDS day, in addition to 8

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different activities throughout the year.

Being appointed and responsible to a position is not an easy task in itself. Working with IPSF means a lot of extra activities that come up, in addition to your studies. However, every activity is worth mentioned at the end. IPSF puts me a step forward, provides me a new life and a life time worth of experiences. I highly recommend everyone who would like to learn from different cultures and pharmacy students around the globe, to come up with enthusiasm to take a position and take the campaign to the next level.

I am hopeful that it will be a great opportunity.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who took the lead with me to make the HIV/AIDS portfolio a grand success. The IPSF team has been committed to spreading public health awareness. The public health subcommittee has worked hard to deliver the message by gathering updated information to meet the slogan, putting the AIDS kit together and sharing it with pharmacy students around the globe through their national associations and other organizations. Special thanks go to all of you who have already shared their campaigns and ideas with us via activity reports. It was a great pleasure for me to read all your activity reports and share some images from the report in this issue of Public Health SPOT. Our contribution towards AIDS will be valued in the future. So, keep campaigning and enjoy the IPSF spirit.

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“Pharmacists, as an important member of the health care professional, carry the key responsibility towards the health of the general public. That’s why; Public Health Initiatives should be taken by us. As I am a pharmacy student, IPSF is the best platform for me to share my ideas about the public health globally. It’s my love towards the global public health, pharmacy profession and IPSF.” - Mohan Shrestha

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Mr. Chris Wiley, IPSF Liaison for Thomas Jefferson University (USA)

A Drive for Change

We at Thomas Jefferson created little collection jars from our school’s water bottles, labeled them with the details of the event, and passed them around our classes. At the end of March when all the coins were counted, Jefferson had won and the three schools together donated a check for $465.49 to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. The Foundation told us that this was enough to help almost 25 mothers with an HIV test, the first step in preventing HIV transmission and maintaining the health of women and their families.

I learned a lot from my experience collaborating with other IPSF liaisons on this project. Some 10 IPSF Public Health Spot

important take-aways from this experience were: 1. Collaborate with other schools early on - I would say as soon as the school year starts, and discuss your goals for the whole year. Plan far in advance to allow time for each school to agree on a time frame. 2. Communicate with the other IPSF liaisons frequently - even if it is just a quick update. Keep everyone in the loop and encourage participation from all pharmacy schools within the area. 3. Be creative and have fun! Bounce ideas off each other and you will find yourself more motivated and inspired. Two heads are better than one and five are better than two!

The more liaisons from other schools you can reach, the more ideas you can get and the more excited you will be to make them happen! You’ll also learn where they ran into barriers and how they dealt with them. In summary, teamwork is the way to go!

‘‘1. Collaborate with other schools early on

2. Communicate with the other IPSF liaisons frequently 3. Be creative and have fun!

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As part of IPSF’s HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, three schools teamed up this year to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. From December 2012 through March 2013, Jefferson School of Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in Rutgers held a competition to see which school’s IPSF chapter could raise the most money. Each school held a coin drive, which we called “A Drive for Change.”

The change could be collected any way the chapter wanted, and the winning school would keep 10% of the total proceeds to put towards their chapter’s activities.

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Ms. Anggie Wiyani, IPSF Tuberculosis Campaign Coordinator 2012-13

IPSF Tuberculosis Campaign Coordinator Speaks...

Hello IPSFers!

Time goes by so fast, now it’s been a year since I applied to this position as an IPSF Tuberculosis Coordinator. It seems like just yesterday I was in Egypt attending the 58th IPSF World Congress, and I was filling out my application form to apply as an IPSF Tuberculosis Coordinator. 1 month later, I remember I was very jubilant and excited when I found out that I was appointed as an IPSF Tuberculosis Coordinator! It was like a dream come true because I knew that I could gain more experience and have many new friends through this new opportunity that was given to me.

As IPSF Tuberculosis Coordinator, this year I have revised and updated the IPSF TB Campaign Kit and made an TB Awareness presentation so IPSF members could spread and improve TB awareness to many people in different communities and countries. I also proposed and hosted a new form of TB awareness campaign which involve the latest social media, twitter. The campaign was very successful with many IPSFers got involved, so congratulations to the winners and many thanks to those who participated in the contest.

Through this experience, I’ve learned many new things and facts regarding Tuberculosis and

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about IPSF itself. I had a chance to work with a great team and make new friends from many different countries, which allowed me to learn many new things regarding the culture and also the health care system in those countries. It was such a big honor to meet many amazing people with amazing stories that inspired me both as a student and as a future pharmacist.

Other than that, being an IPSF Tuberculosis Coordinator also gave me a chance to increase TB awareness among people in this world through various forms of campaign material. This proves that pharmacy students like us can make a big change in this world, by taking one step at a time.

In the future, I hope that many students will participate and be the new family members of IPSF to gain new knowledge, new life-changing experiences, and hopefully work together to make this world a better place to live.

“This proves that pharmacy students like us can make a big change in this world, by taking one step at a time.”

Mr. Ahmed Abdullah, Design and Creativity Sub-Committee Member

“As a pharmacist, I know much about TB and its dreadful nature; so I was very keen and enthusiastic to work on such a project and share in eradicating TB and protecting the public from it.”

Entering the IPSF world was a kind of coincidence that changed my life. I am known to be an excellent media user and IPSF gave me the chance to practice what I love and share what I do.

Videos are a great tool for delivering any message to the public in a simple and a creative way. We do not need to speak the same language or be of the same nation to understand a video; the language of media is global. Videos are more interesting than other ways of awareness. So I am therefore proud to be a Design and Creativity Subcommittee (DCSC) within IPSF. When talking about the team, no words could describe how cooperative and creative they are especially Alexandra Marques, IPSF Chairperson of Media and Publication. We are working together to establish media tools that serve the IPSF initiatives and projects.

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Designing and Public Health in A Creative Mix is indescribable. I cannot begin to express my happiness and pride to work -even in an indirect way- with the PH team in The IPSF Tuberculosis Campaign. Working through the Anti TB Campaign was one of my great life experiences.

As a pharmacist, I know much about TB and its dreadful nature; so I was very keen and enthusiastic to work on such a project and share in eradicating TB and protecting the public from it. It was great to apply pharmacy and designing simultaneously and create a new anti TB weapon, an awareness video.

About the video’s idea, it resembles building blocks video games. A lung is being constructed and when TB approaches, the lung is destroyed.

But when the player’s ID turns out to be an IPSFer, the lung is now protected against TB. Thankful words must be said to Anggie Wiyani, IPSF Tuberculosis Co-ordinator, who was helpful to a great extent. I found the work flow with her harmonious and smooth.

And lastly, thanks to IPSF, I am now enjoying my profession, happy and also helping people at the same time. Last but not least, I wish the IPSF continuity, prosperity and progress.

My experience in the Public Health committee

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Mr. Muhammad Azhari, Contact Person of HMF ITB (Indonesia)

World Tuberculosis Day Campaign: “Let’s STOP TB!” “Due to the lack of knowledge of tuberculosis, many medication come to failure at the end. “ In Indonesia, tuberculosis is one of the top three lung diseases that cause death, after lung cancer.

Due to the lack of knowledge of this diseases, many medication come to failure at the end. This phenomenon really take our concern to take an action. So, in the event of commemorating World Tuberculosis Day, we intended to do the campaign “Let’s STOP TB!”.

At first, this campaign was aimed to acknowledge people about how to prevent Tuberculosis infection, how to cure it, and how to take care the patient infected with this diseases. We thought that those 3 things were the most important in fighting against Tuberculosis. But then, we improvised this campaign to become a charity to help people living with Tuberculosis. The charity that we had done was a sticker selling. We sold almost 300 stickers with benefit around 40 Euro.

So, we spent almost 1 month in preparing this campaign led by Resky Dera Putriranti and Ratu Hasti Fachrunnisa. We designed stickers, made properties for the campaign, and also made a publication about this campaign. Before we did

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the charity, we first spread posters and flyers about Tuberculosis. We gave those posters and flyers to every secretariat of student associations in our campus on the weekdays and then spread posters and flyers in the public event in Dago (Car Free Day Dago) on the weekend. After we spread the posters, we offered them to buy our stickers in order to help people who live with Tuberculosis.

We successfully spread the poster in all corners of our campus. We also got enthusiasm from the attendants of Car Free Day Dago about how to stop TB. In the charity, we successfully sold the stickers and got money with amount about 40 Euro. We know this is not that much, but at least, in this day and in our country, we think we can help 1-2 patient with that money to be healed from Tuberculosis. After we got the money, we donated it to the Lung Hospital in Bandung, named Rotinsulu Hospital.

Our campaign went pretty well. We were quite surprised that most of the attendance of Car Free Day Dago didn’t know much about the dangers of this diseases. We were happy to get a chance to tell them and helping them in preventing future infection.

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Mr. Dusan Jasovsky, IPSF ACDC Sub-committee Member 2012-13

ACDC Combats Fake Drugs!

IPSF’s public health campaigns cover most important issues related to the profession of a Pharmacist.

Pharmacy students and young graduates increase the public’s health literacy and awareness. It reflects our intentions to actively participate on shaping our future work environment. Our generation of young Pharmacists inherited a very diverse position as Pharmacists in the healthcare system. But how do we fight this negative trend of our profession’s devaluation? We know that pharmacists are most accessible for patients therefore we can expect tremendous positive public health impact. Adding awareness tools into our daily practice as an extra competences might therefore strengthen our position as equal caregivers.

One of great examples where IPSF’s policy knowledge smoothly results into technical development of public health campaigns is ACDC. Anti-counterfeit drug campaign works towards with helping healthcare students create advocacy campaigns in their countries to help combat the problems of counterfeit and substandard medications. Focusing on both general public and health care professionals, IPSF creates direct impact by sharing methods on how to avoid fake medicines and promote cutting-edge analytical technologies to detect these fake medications.

ACDC is also a good example of a campaign where high-level policy spontaneously interacts with awareness tools. While carrying out the campaign we always need to keep in mind diversity of regulation around the globe (i.e. what is considered to be falsified/counterfeited in one country is meeting the unharmonized GMP requirements in the other).

Therefore legislative difference surveys and adaptive campaign kits needs to be elaborated. Having WHO as a strategic partner, IPSF is keen to participate on

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global solutions of this very issue via its challenging awareness campaigns. A direct call for this awareness raising can be found within official WHO and WHA documents: I) WHA A66/22 - Appendix 2 - WORKPLAN Communication, education and awareness raising (related to all Objectives) (a) Vigilance and awareness education among consumers, health professionals and industry. (b) Advocacy to political leadership.

II) Information obtained during 66th WHA’s side event ‘Good governance in the pharmaceutical sector’: Governments and donor agencies should fund development of effective communication and training for consumer and health workers on understanding the quality and safety of medicines.

Targeted health worker education on falsified and substandard medicines would improve understanding of the problem around the world. This education should emphasize the correct reporting channels health workers can use to confirm suspected cases of bad falsified drugs. Illegitimate drugs are a potential threat in all countries, though risk varies widely from country to country. An effective communication campaign should be present to share accurate information in a way that empowers patients to protect their health.

IPSF’s developed its intervention to the discussion on SFFC (Substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/ falsified/counterfeit medications) at the 66th WHA mentioning ACDC as its powerful awareness response to the call of by WHO and other stakeholders.

Mr. Dusan Jasovsky, IPSF ACDC Sub-committee Member 2012-13

66th World Health Assembly: Nowadays, when world is changing exponentially in each sector, there is a common momentum of this change: globalization. If health as a basal platform is to be built as our highest priority, we, as professionals having tremendous impact in this sphere, need to be subsequently aware of all issues triggered by globalization.

But how does the world of global health advocacy reflect into our day-to-day clinical practice and why should we be interested in global health issues?

Well, maybe because these issues don’t respect any geographical borders in a global perspective and globalization appears to be the direct epidemiological catalyst. And maybe also because more than two thirds of all active pharmaceutical ingredients are being produced in developing countries such as China and India, where potential lack of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) regulations may lead to substandard production and thus a threat to our patients globally.

There are plenty of important topics literally waiting to be covered by pharmacy students from a public health perspective. The position of a pharmacist as an equal healthcare professional within healthcare chain needs to be stressed often these days and IPSF’s involvement in public health issues and its awareness could be a very useful tool to contribute to this goal. Therefore IPSF’s delegation to the 66th World Health Assembly, WHO’s governing body, actively contributed to the pharmacy-related topics and paved the way for future global health advocacy activities.

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How does world of global health advocacy reflect into our day-to-day clinical practice? Fake drugs - case study Fake Drugs “Spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit medical products (SFFC) medicines are medicines that are deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source,” from the WHO. SFFC medicines pose a public health risk because their content can be dangerous or they can lack active ingredients. Their use can result in treatment failure and contribute to increased resistance (eg. in the case of antimalarials that contain insufficient active ingredient) or even death. Unlike substandard medicines where there are problems with the manufacturing process by a known manufacturer, SFFC medicines are made by people with the intent to mislead or harm patients.

Current SFFC issues are mostly triggered by lack of transparency, and collaboration and harmonization of regulations among Member States (MS). The risk of SFFC medical products infiltrating the legal supply chain is unpredictable. From a small forgers producing fake lifestyle drugs on their backyard to organized criminals manufacturing whole batches of medicines from any therapeutic group. This is a truly global problem costing the lives and the trust of the public in medicine. Thus, as methods of criminals evolve utilizing more sophisticated technologies, it will become increasingly difficult and expensive to detect counterfeits.

Cases of substandard drugs have the greatest incidence from all cases currently detected by WHO Medicines Quality Assurance Department. They have increased the morbidity rate of some infections, increased management costs for certain conditions, and they have led, although rarely, to fatalities.

Furthermore, they may have contributed to drug resistance. IPSF will therefore address efforts to

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establish harmonized GMP requirements globally.

In addition, a proper definition of terms ‘falsified and counterfeit’ causes misunderstandings. Generic pharmaceutical companies and small and medium local manufacturers mainly in developing countries could be therefore considered to produce fake medical products while meeting GMP requirements.

This directly triggers market access obstacles and therefore indirectly lowers availability of medicines in specific countries, i.e. India and Brazil, which were blocking further progression on the SFFC topic at last year’s WHA due to the above mentioned reasons.

Even previous MS and WHO mechanism called IMPACT failed on this blockage by these countries.

As Global Health Diplomacy tends to integrate ‘Health in all Policies’ into all its topics, a vast majority of UN and other stakeholder organizations begin to take that into consideration in a decision-making process. For instance, World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) influence the SFFC topic with its intellectual property and drug patent regulations.

IPSF is privileged to enter this complex discussion from both policy and technical perspectives.

We are truly unique partners who can provide a comprehensive advocacy solutions based on proper GMP and pharmaceutical analysis knowledge.

Therefore there is an obvious need for development of robust IPSF’s policy positions on SFFC, working closely with WHO and other key partners such as

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Médecins Sans Frontières’ Campaign and Medicines Patent Poll, as this issue also indirectly influences availability of medicines.

Youth pre-WHA

In order to prepare IPSF’s positions on specific global health topics and to develop our lobbying skills, our partner medical students organization IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students’ Association) organized enriching and inspirational 4 days of intense global health diplomacy discussions and presented influential speakers from WHO, Geneva Graduate Institute and various NGOs. After introduction presentations, participants, according to their preferences, started their work on specific interventions and policy briefings in Small Working Groups (SWG). Parallel with developing the interventions, lobbying and advocacy case studies and fruitful discussions were conducted after presentation panels were carried out. Having their policy brief and interventions ready, SWGs

were meeting during the whole Assembly to discuss lobbying strategy and to report side events related to their particular topic. If you are passionate about global health and you would like to bring your pharmacy perspective into it, do not hesitate to apply for next year’s youth pre-WHA.

Mr. Dusan Jasovsky, IPSF ACDC Sub-committee Member 2012-13

Honorable Attendees, I speak on behalf of the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation, representing the global voice of 270,000 future pharmacists and recent graduates.

The Federation promotes health through profession and patient-focused initiatives.

Substandard/Spurious/Falsely-labelled/Falsified/ Counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products pose a threat to patients in both developed and developing countries. SSFFC medical products especially harm the health of persons in countries which lack the resources for proper regulatory and policing systems.

However, even countries with stringent regulations are at risk of SSFFC medical products infiltrating the legal supply chain. This is a truly global problem costing the lives and the trust of the public in medicine.

Thus, as methods of criminals evolve utilizing more sophisticated technologies, it will become increasingly difficult and expensive to detect counterfeit and substandard medicines. We cannot afford to delay action. The time to act is now.

Following the mechanism meeting in Buenos Aires, we urge Member States to secure strong leadership and implement the current work plan. We look forward to the appointment of the Steering Committee Chairperson to lead the way towards Patient Safety as the highest priority within health systems.

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IPSF’s World Health Assembly Intervention on SSFFC medical products a difference through raising awareness among the general public. There are many commercials, campaigns and adverts targeting counterfeit music and film and yet the consequence of such criminal activity do not cost lives, merely loss of profit. Therefore, IPSF intends to expand our Anti Counterfeit Drug Campaign, involving civil society as well as professional health organizations to combat the real and present threat that falsified medicines pose.

Currently, illicit internet pharmacies are one of the most dangerous and deceptive places to obtain SSFFC medical products. We call upon countries to develop a method for patients to verify legitimacy of online pharmacies in the countries where they legally exist.

With the globalization currently being experienced and prompted by the Internet, it is essential that our patients be able to trust the medications they buy.

As demonstrated through our statement, there are many areas of SSFFC that still need to be addressed.

IPSF hopes to see further international cooperation in this process and that Member States will continue their commitment towards ensuring patient safety.

You can count on our strong support as we are eager to collaborate across all sectors in creating safe and equally accessible medical products for all people.

IPSF supports the unique education of pharmacy students, which spans from chemical formulation to clinical practice, putting them in a strong position to support quality assurance.

We believe that even as students we can make

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Ms. Devi Permatasari & Ms. Yenita Fangny, HMF ‘Ars Praeparandi’ ITB (Indonesia)

Activity Report: Anti-Counterfeit Drug Campaign Date and Time of The Activity: 1st-3rd May 2013 Location of The Activity: Bandung Institute of Technology, Boulevard Number and Type of Target Audience: 400-500 students in our campus Number of Students Taking Part: 40 persons

Results: We got a lot of enthusiasm from students in our campus. They felt excited yet interested with our information. Moreover, we found some students quite surprised that such things, like counterfeit drugs, exist in the society and are considered dangerous.

Organization of The Activity: A. Timeline of organizing the activity

Descriptions of The Activity: A. Background:

1 month

These days, most people in Indonesia don’t know the danger of using counterfeit medications. The truth is that many drugs threatened the society with its ability to cause toxicity, even death, while the cause of it is absence of active ingredients or false active ingredients in the drugs.

B. Number of students involved in organizing

B. Aims: To educate students around campus about the danger of counterfeit drugs, how to recognize it, and what we should do when we get it in our pharmacy practice setting.

C. Methods and used tools/materials: We used posters and flyers to spread the information as well as icons, to get people attention, so that they are willing to come over to our booth.

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15 persons C. Advertisement of the activity Posters, flyers, booth, and icons (people with decorations on their bodies) Comments and/or Ideas Arising from The Activity: We think that any methods in conducting this campaign can work well whatever the condition in society. The only problem is the matter itself. Sometimes, different areas of country have different cases and sometimes it is quite particular in a specific region. Having a toolkit that is specific to each countries (developed vs developing countries) needs will help combat this problem in the future.

Mr. Méthode Nezerwa, IPSF MAC Coordinator 2012-13

“IPSF Medicine Awareness Campaign is the unique opportunity to demonstrate the integral role of a Pharmacist in health promotion by informing the public about drugs and medicines abuse, addictions, side effects and interactions...”

Hello, My name is Méthode Nezerwa and I am the IPSF Medicine Awareness Campaign (MAC) Coordinator for 2012-13. I have been absorbed in IPSF activities for 4 years. I joined the IPSF for the first time in 2010 as a member of the Membership Promotion Sub-Committee (MPC).

In 2011, I joined the Pharmacy Education & Medicine Awareness Sub-Committees.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 50% of all medicines are prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately and that half of all patients fail to take them correctly. This incorrect use may take the form of overuse, underuse and misuse of prescription or nonprescription medicines. Common problems include: polypharmacy (use of too many medicines), overuse of antibiotics and injections, failure to prescribe in accordance with clinical

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IPSF Medicine Awareness Campaign Coordinator Speaks... guidelines, and inappropriate self-medication.

These seriously affect the life of medicines users. Increasing people’s knowledge about medications is effective in promoting the rational use of medicines which maintains and improves the health care outcomes in patients.

It would be useless to give the product which gives lives (A medicine) without providing its users with vital information about it. As a pharmacy student and the pharmacist of tomorrow - the only expert who gives life to medicines - the IPSF Medicine Awareness Campaign is the unique opportunity to demonstrate the integral role of a Pharmacist in health promotion by informing the public about drugs and medicines abuse, addictions, side effects and interactions as well as increasing drug misuse awareness therefore, changing the misconceptions surrounding our Pharmacy profession. Being the MAC Coordinator is a paramount opportunity to interact with internationally folks, exchanging knowledge with them, sharing experiences sand best practices as well as making International friends. Participating in MAC turns a pharmacy student into a Seven-Star Pharmacist.

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Mr. Islam Alwakeel, IPSF MAC Sub-committee Member 2012-13

As a pharmacist, MAC is your target “As IPSFers and before that as pharmacists, we have to set the culture of proper drug use and spread it everywhere in our societies.”

Being a member of The Organization Committee of 58th IPSF World Congress 2012 - Hurghada, Egypt is similar to my passport to the IPSF fascinating world. It gave me the passion and excitement to apply for one of the IPSF projects and enjoy the IPSF spirit. From the moment I went into the IPSF world, my mind has been broadened and now I know about many cultures and have a family member in almost every country of the world.

Believing that the culture of using drugs is a critical matter that we have to spread and share with everywhere is how I got interested in MAC, the Medicine Awareness Campaign.

Drug misuse, abuse, side effects, interactions and a lot of drug use related issues are being discussed in MAC. As IPSFers and before that as pharmacists, we have to set the culture of proper drug use and spread it everywhere in our societies.

Through my journey in MAC, I worked with

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marvelous people.

Along with Méthode Nezerwa, the coordinator, we had our unique spirit and aims. We consider ourselves a family not just a working team. Just as an example, my father went on a bad medical case, and I found all my MAC mates on a facebook group praying for him.

Of course I could not forget the support of Marouen Ben Guebila, MAC former coordinator, who started the MAC journey that will be continued by us and also by new IPSFers.

I consider the 5th of May, which is Medicine Awareness Campaign Day a dream that came true. Now, IPSFers around the globe celebrate MAC on the same day but in different spots of the world. With the theme of “Ask Your Pharmacist, Know Your Medicine, Save Your Life”, MAC culture is going to grow and spread everywhere.

To sum it all up, I could say that being a MAC subcommittee is one of my great life experiences.

I hope to continue this marvelous journey and to see MAC achieving all of its goals in the near future.

MAC, created for your health sake.

IPSF Medicine Awareness Campaign Sub-Committee 2012-13

Méthode Nezerwa, MAC Coordinator 2012-13 “It would be useless to give the product which gives lives (A medicine) without providing its users with vital information about it. As a pharmacy student and the pharmacist of tomorrow -the only expert who gives life to medicines-the IPSF Medicine Awareness Campaign is the unique opportunity for me to demonstrate the integral role of a pharmacist in health promotion and change the misconceptions surrounding our Pharmacy profession. Participating in MAC turns a pharmacy student into a Seven-Star Pharmacist.”

Islam Alwakeel, Egypt: “When you feel that your thoughts and contributions prevail worldwide and celebrate the 5th of May as if it is your birthday, you know you are a MAC subcommittee. Believing that the culture of using drugs is a critical matter, we started our campaign to contribute in improving the public health. In a few but true words, MAC

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Messages from Medicines Awareness Campaign Sub-Committee is a family not a team, working hard to achieve a dream… MAC created for your health sake.”

In-Young Park, South Korea: “At first, I was ashamed and could not speak loud within the MAC subcommittee. But I felt great when people asked me spontaneously, and I thought I should study harder to contribute to public health. It was really good time for me to remind what I should be doing as a pharmaceutical student.”

Kyeongmin Kim, South Korea : “I’m very proud of us. I hope more people recognize pharmaceutical students and pharmacists are studying and trying hard to be better and this was a very good opportunity.”

Jinran Kim, South Korea: “It was successful!!! Some citizens said thank you and I was very glad. Through this campaign, we could deliver the importance of patient counseling and proper use of drugs. “

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Ms. Maryam Ben Hammouda, Contact Person of ATEP (Tunisia)

Ways to Quit Smoking Smoking tobacco is among the leading causes of many diseases. It has so many bad health effects and yet, ask any regular smoker you know and they’ll tell you that quitting is probably the hardest thing they ever had to do.

There are numerous ways to stop smoking.

You can rely on your own willpower, convince yourself that you can do it on your own with no help and give yourself occasional pep talks to get through the nicotine cravings. Of course there is the traditional list of the benefits of quitting and the drawbacks of not quitting. You can also find out how much money you can save when you stop buying packs of cigarettes which is usually the best argument for deciding to quit.

These are the usual methods but there are more unconventional approaches. In fact, now you can actually download an app on your phone that records the amount of time you’ve been smoke-free, the number of cigarettes avoided each day and even shows your lung function improvement!

In-person counseling and support has also proven to double the chances of quitting successfully. The more you meet with your counselor, the better your odds of success.

Besides, many governments introduced new

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policies to fight this problem. The United States was one of the first countries to prohibit smoking in public places while in other countries, radical measures including extra taxes for cigarette sellers and fines for using any tobacco related product in non-smoking areas have been established. For instance, in the United Kingdom all tobacco advertising has been banned and the British government has launched a campaign that targets young people and teenagers which includes for example a crime offence for shopkeepers who knowingly sell cigarettes to children under 16.

Other alternative techniques like acupuncture, aromatherapy or even hypnosis have appeared over the years. They may be helpful if you believe they can.

But the most effective way is still seeking medical advice along with the assistance of a specialist. It is by far the best solution.

To sum it all up, all the tools to make people quit smoking are available from the traditional to the most original way. But in the end, it’s all up to you! Who knows by quitting you may be saving more than just your own life.

Ms. Shelly Hummert, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator for University of Arizona (USA)

Tobacco use has been recognized as the leading preventable cause of premature deaths in the United States. As a health care professional, this motivated me to spend the past year as the Tobacco Cessation Awareness Coordinator. This position allowed me to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use. Over the past year, I arranged a tobacco cessation certification class for pharmacy students, participated in health fairs to provide education and resources to the public, and promoted a smoke-free campus.

A new event I organized this past year was The Great American Smokeout, an event in which the University of Arizona had never previously partaken in.

Education through social media, emails, and fliers allowed the event to be advertised to over 500 individuals. It was through this event that I realized how successful it was to use social media as a promotional tool. The Facebook page provided links to an online petition to initiate a campus-wide tobacco-free policy, resources for smoking cessation, and advice on how to help someone quit smoking. Individuals could “like” the page to either pledge to be smoke free or to assist others in doing so. This page allowed for stories and ideas to be easily communicated to a large number of people all over the country. The page also let everyone know to wear red on the day of the event to show support for smoking cessation.

During the week of The Great American Smokeout, a red ribbon that represented a pledge wall was available for students, faculty, and community

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The Great American Smokeout members to sign. This ribbon, signed by over 85 individuals, was wrapped around posts on campus on the day of the event. It is my hope that the pledge wall and number of signatures will continue to grow and be displayed each year.

In Arizona, there is a free helpline known as ASHLine which provides services in both English and Spanish. Patients can contact ASHLine 24 hours a day, seven days a week to speak to a “quit coach” for support. I provided handouts to the community about this service and faxed referrals, filled out by current smokers, to ASHLine during the week of The Great American Smokeout.

In addition, a former pharmacy student saw the Facebook advertisement and decided to incorporate the event into her work at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota.

This center provides services to homeless patients. The patients at the center were educated about the dangers of smoking and as a result, two individuals became interested in quitting. These patients were given the resources needed to help them to quit smoking. I spoke with this former student a few months ago and the patients are progressing well.

The tobacco cessation project was one that I not only thoroughly enjoyed, but one that positively impacted a great number of individuals promoting a healthier and hopefully longer life span. I will continue to support this program in my future career as a pharmacist, and I encourage all health care professionals to find out what resources are available in their states to provide education and aid to their communities.

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Ms. Nellie Jafari, IPSF Liaison for Virginia Commonwealth University (USA)

IPSF Vampire Cup Campaign “The Vampire Cup is a blood drive where IPSF students try to compete against one another to raise the most units of blood.”

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Pharmacy had our first Vampire Cup blood drive on February 21st, 2013. The Vampire Cup is a blood drive where IPSF students try to compete against one another to raise the most units of blood. Although it was our first time organizing this event, it was a huge success and will definitely become an annual tradition for our IPSF chapter. We partnered with the VCU Student Government Association and the Virginia Blood Bank to organize the blood drive.

In addition to videos and posters as promotional items, hundreds of flyers were designed and distributed by our IPSF committee to attract students from all over the medical campus to donate blood for the Vampire Cup. We were also able to get prizes from local businesses to raffle away during the blood drive. What made this blood drive unique was that the whole entire medical campus was involved and encouraged to donate blood. This was done by turning the blood drive into a competition between the

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different health professional schools.

A free pizza party was provided for the health professions’s class with the most blood donations. It was amazing to see all the students from the different health professionals donating blood for the Vampire Cup. Needless to say, the pharmacy class won the competition! Overall, 82 people registered to donate blood, 64 units of blood was collected, which resulted in 192 lives saved! The Virginia Blood Bank said it was the most successful blood drive they have ever had on our campus. We hope to continue this great start to the Vampire Cup and contribute even more to this remarkable cause in the future.

public health Blood Donation Campaign Promotional Poster by EPSF (Egypt)

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Ms. Echo Fallon, IPSF liaison for University of Arizona (USA)

Organ Donation Campaign Our University of Arizona (UA) International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF) Chapter implemented an Organ Donation Awareness Campaign this year. Organ donation is an often-overlooked public health topic. In the U.S., it is an opt-in system, meaning that unless you register to donate, it is assumed you do not want to donate your organs. This leaves many patients waiting for organs. As of June 19, 2013 there were 118,539 patients waiting for an organ transplant.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 1 person is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes, while 18 people die each day waiting for an organ that could have saved their life. Each organ donor can save approximately 13 lives and tissue donors have the ability to save or improve up to 53 lives.

Our IPSF Clinical Outreach Coordinators collaborated with two different entities to implement this Organ Donation Awareness public health campaign. The first was the UA undergraduate club “Students for Organ Donation”. The second was the “Donate Life Arizona” group. Both organizations helped us to develop an Organ Donation Awareness Booth. This booth featured information in English and Spanish, Organ Donation shirts, Donate Life wristbands and Donate Life pens. Additionally, the booth featured cards for individuals to sign up on to become registered organ donors.

The booth was set up at various community health fairs throughout the school year. One called “Pharmacy Day on the Mall” is a day-long health fair that the UA College of Pharmacy advertises and hosts on the UA campus every year. UA students have various incentives to attend the health fair,

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which includes many other booths. One incentive is the free health screenings - for hypertension, diabetes, etc. Another is the preventative service provided, such as free condoms at the Sexually Transmitted Disease Education Booth. Students can also ask pharmacy professors and students about various health issues.

We also participated in the El Rio Health and Safety Fair, an annual health fair hosted by the El Rio Health Center, a community clinic. The attendees of this fair include lower-income and ethnic minority patients, many of who do not speak English. Therefore, the College of Pharmacy included several translators at the fair, which included screening services and educational materials similar to those described above. Our Organ Donation Booth appeared at both fairs.

Our experiences led us to believe that the lack of organ donors is largely due to the lack of accurate information about organ donation. Though many people did register as donors, several wanted to discuss it with their families first or simply hear the education and then think about it before taking action. At various community health fairs throughout the school year, we registered hundreds of donors, thereby saving hundreds of lives and improving the quality of countless others!

In case you want to try this at your chapter – which I highly recommend that you do! – here is some more information. We integrated our booth into pre-existing health fairs. To increase attendance, we advertised for it through those health fair materials and also via email to our College of Pharmacy. We had 3-4 dedicated volunteers from the College of Pharmacy working at the booth at all times.

Ms. Siti Nur Mufyda, Contact Person of BEM KMFA UGM (Indonesia)

“With this kind of event we introduced the children about the real role between Pharmacists and Doctors so they can kept on their mind that Pharmacists and Doctors both have the same important role in the healthcare systems in all over the world.”

Teddy bear hospital is one of the PPAC held by BEM KMFA UGM Indonesia this year on April 28th.

We collaborated together with medical students from Gadjah Mada University to arrange this event. We introduced the role of the healthcare profession like Pharmacists and Doctors to the children. Most of children more recognized Doctors as the healthcare professionals to cure them when they got sick. With this kind of event we introduced the children about the real role between Pharmacists and Doctors so they can kept on their mind that Pharmacists and Doctors both have the same important role in the healthcare systems in all over the world.

Approximately 50 medical students and 50 Pharmacy students were involved in the project.

The students ran the event as professional Pharmacists and Doctors. They were given a

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Teddy Bear Hospital presentation by their respective professionals to treat the patient before they played their roles. Besides the main purpose to introduce the children about the role of the healthcare profession, we also gave the opportunity for the students to learn more about patients counseling.

There were 83 children involved as the target.

Most of them were in the 2-3 grades in elementary school. We make this event unique in order to interact and make the children play the role. We told the children that they were citizens in the City of Teddy and that the city was attacked by some diseases. As teddy’s parents they have to bring the sick teddy to the doctor and also to the pharmacist (also known as the students from the pharmacy and medical schools).

The Doctor explained about the diseases, healthy lifestyles and the children were then given a prescription by the Doctor. The children gave the prescription to the Pharmacist who explained how to use the medicine. They also explained about what actually Pharmacists do so the children could learn more about the role of all the healthcare professionals.

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International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation PO BOX 84200 2508 AE Den Haag The Netherlands Tel: +31 70 302 1992 Fax: +31 70 302 1999 Email: ipsf@ipsf.org Website: www.ipsf.org

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