Recognising the absence of a multi-national entity dedicated to advocating for the value of community pharmacies within national healthcare systems, the Pharmintercom members acted on the imperative for community pharmacists to have an advocacy platform to influence the development of health policy at the international level. Consequently, we resolved to establish the WPC at our 2016 meeting.
Why we matter
To serve as a global voice for community pharmacies, the Council also secured representation and recognition within the Business at OECD (BIAC), the voice of business within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The OECD is an intergovernmental organisation comprising 36 member countries, committed to enhancing the economic and social well-being of individuals worldwide. The WPC’s ongoing engagement has already resulted in heightened visibility of community pharmacies through recognition in OECD reports that contribute to global health policy formulation.
What we do
The Council also proactively engages with multilateral organisations such as the WHO and UN. Fundamental to the growing success of the WPC is our annual Pharmintercom conference held this year in Singapore at the end of May.
We were delighted to welcome our delegates from our 13 national member organisations, in addition to our affiliate members, and hosted guest representatives from the Association of Finnish Pharmacies (AFP) and the Japan Pharmaceutical Association (JPA).
This year’s meeting theme was Innovating and Advocating for Person-Centred Pharmacy, which emphasised the need for innovative solutions as community pharmacies continue to balance financial pressures with the expansion of patient care roles and technological integration amidst growing geopolitical uncertainty.
Throughout the conference, delegates engaged in lively debate with external experts from various disciplines and experts from our own membership who addressed the key policy challenges for community pharmacy across the developed nations of the world.
What we achieved
We had a deep dive into the opportunities and threats posed by the growing impact of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. There was a thorough and insightful discussion on the future of the pharmacy workforce.
We also debated the ever-present challenges of drug shortages and different strategies to mitigate their considerable impact on our time and ability to serve the needs of our patients. We explored the importance of securing sustainable funding models for community pharmacies to ensure patient accessibility to medication.
What I thought
My own personal highlight of the conference is having the opportunity to hear the insightful presentations from our own national associations. They are always a very candid expose of the threats and opportunities available to community pharmacy at a national level and leave me both humbled and inspired by the resilience, commitment, compassion and patientfocused work of our members in advancing our profession.
These country updates also serve to highlight some of the greatest benefits of WPC – the sharing of challenges, progress and solutions. Some convey to other countries and some don’t, but WPC delegates have a buffet to choose from which can then be taken back to each delegate’s home country and help accelerate domestic adoption.
What was the takeaway?
The universal truth for all our members is that health costs are continuing to exponentially rise, and increasingly governments are focusing on the use of new technologies to transform traditional models of care. Community pharmacies must be part of the debates, both domestically and internationally, to develop recognition of their role in the provision of healthcare today and to shape the narrative of the future of how pharmacies are an integral part of innovative healthcare systems.
What’s next
The WPC is advocating on an international level, calling on policymakers to recognise prescription dispensing as a crucial clinical service. One of the important products from the meeting is the development of a policy on dispensing and core funding as this activity is foundational to the building of additional patient care services provided by the pharmacist and their team. It is essential that governments invest in community pharmacy as a strategic health asset to build more accessible, efficient, and resilient healthcare systems.
While WPC delegates come from different countries from all over the world with different customs and even speaking different languages, we are united in our singular belief in the power of community pharmacists. The work of WPC continues as we seek to fulfil our Mission to promote international recognition of community pharmacy’s role and value, securing its position as a fundamental pillar of person-centred, sustainable and resilient health systems.
