WeAreEPSA

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In the last few weeks AFÖP has organised two teddy bear hospitals, with one coming up in December. We tremendously enjoyed these opportunities to strengthen our collaboration with AMSA (Austrian Medical Students Association). Furthermore we are looking forward to our second Marketing Skills Event that will be happening during the second week of December.

AFÖP, Austria

ANEPF is organising, in collaboration with UNECD the National Association of Dental Surgery Students, a 3-week humanitarian project in Morocco for the summer of 2020, with a focus on diabetes awareness and the proper use of medicines. Volunteers have been recruited and will be trained together on their missions and inter-professional collaboration for the project. Various materials will be collected from students around France in order to donate to them as well.

ANEPF, France

The BPSA Executive were present at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Annual Conference, and we enjoyed meeting professionals from various sectors and explaining the Association’s role in pharmacy students’ careers. We received great feedback on our second Business into Practice Conference and also hosted our first ever Annual Drinks Reception on a boat on the River Thames. The BPSA Travel Fund has now opened, and we look forward to being able to fund some students to attend EPSA Annual Congress in Lyon in April! BPSA, The United Kingdom On the 18th and 19th of October, an APEF member, AEFFUL, organized a congress under the topic “Health Technologies: From Molecule to Society”. This is their major activity and was attended by 300 participants. The topics discussed allowed to debate the impact that the technological applications have had on the health system, as well as the potential they have in the future.

APEF, Portugal

The biggest event of Asep took place during the month of October. It is called the NPSW (National Pharmacy Students Weekend) and the aim of this week-end is to gather all the students of Switzerland in order to learn something but also to have fun. During the week-end some Symposiums and Workshops were organized but also an amazing Gala dinner which took place in the Markthalle in Basel. The other big event on the agenda was the Delegate Assembly, where the new board got elected. asep, Switzerland

With the beginning of November, CPSA has hosted the 16th EPSA Autumn Assembly in Poreč which was a result of two years of planning. We are also organising a TWINN with the turkish students from Adana, starting the 19th of December and ending the 22nd of December. CPSA is also organising the Marketing Skills Event in the middle of December with Abbot as the general sponsor. There are many things currently brewing so be sure to follow our social media.

CPSA, Croatia

Since the beginning of November, CzPSA has joined the ATB Awareness Week in cooperation with Czech Pharmaceutical Chamber, Movember month with Mustache Café and an online HIV/AIDS Public Health Campaign. We organized educational lectures, not only for our students but also for active seniors, and two Teddy Bear Hospitals for children. In CzPSA we do try to cover different ranges of activities for students and the general public. For more information about our activities and policy, you can follow us on social media.

CzPSA, Czech Republic

After working together with FASMR and FSMDR (National Federations of Medical/Dental Students’ Associations) on different projects and following their collaboration in advocating for healthcare students’ rights, FASFR and the other two associations decided to establish an official Alliance. This is how, on the 14th of December, ASDS was created. This National Alliance of Students in Healthcare provides its Members with a common, stronger voice when advocating for shared goals and comes about as a firm step towards achieving interprofessional collaboration. FASFR, Romania

IPSA has dedicated itself to improve the representation of Pharmacy Students on both an international and national basis. IPSA is planning their inaugural conference to take place in March 2020, they announced two new Twinnets with Serbia and Poland and they have also been involved in a national campaign to remove proposed cuts for community pharmacies. We look forward to ensuring the voices of our students are heard.

IPSA, Ireland

During the past few months, GPSF has carried out various Health Campaigns both live and through social media, including ones for vaccination, diabetes, COPD and AIDS. Moreover, we recently launched the “Learning from the Experts” project where we interviewed healthcare professionals about serious issues. Those interviews can be found on our YouTube channel.

GPSF, Greece

At the beginning of November, the K.N.P.S.V. organised a professional day. The aim of this day was to familiarise students with the different professional possibilities that are open to them after graduation. This event was a great success and we are really looking forward to the EPSA Annual Congress, where we hope that many students will join us.

K.N.P.S.V., The Netherlands

At the beginning of December, NAPSer organized the 12th NAPSer congress. Zlatibor, the mountain in western Serbia was a home for over 300 students during three days of the congress. The topic was “Endocrinology outside of the box”. Participants were students from Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Montenegro. We organised a series of lectures and interactive workshops delivered by renowned lecturers and experts, and also an EPSA training took place as an important part of the congress. NAPSer, Serbia

In late February 2020, NoPSA will organise a National Congress for our members and others, where one of our goals is to gather Norwegian pharmaceutical students from all over the country. The theme of the Congress “Cancer – the disease and the time after” will offer our members more knowledge about how cancer affects the patient and their next of kin, both physically and mentally.

NopSA, Norway

With the beginning of the month, the whole PPSA association has come together to educate the public about antibiotics. Our students visited primary schools, high schools and senior universities, reaching around 2800 people. We also had our annual public health campaign “Consult with the pharmacist”. We visited shopping centers in 11 cites and, with the help of students from different healthcare professions, talked to people about diabetes and hypertension.

PPSA, Poland

In November, students from Slovak and Czech pharmaceutical faculties competed in the Czechoslovak round of the Compounding event for the title of master in preparation of individually prepared drugs. To support interprofessional collaboration, SPSA and SloMSA (Slovak Medical Students Association) joined forces and organized two public health campaigns. During the first one, MOVEMBER, we spread awareness about testicular and prostate cancer and during HIV/AIDS day, we raised awareness for the AIDS disease through surveys and discussions with the students in our campus.

SPSA, Slovakia

At the beginning of November, we organized together with Lithuanian University of Health Sciences the 10th International Pharmaceutical conference “Science and practice“ dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of the first Pharmacy Association in Lithuania. During the International Student’s Forum, three students’ organizations from Lithuania, Latvia, and Ukraine shared their ideas and discussed future collaboration opportunities. In December at our faculty, we organized a PHC: raising awareness about AIDS through a stand where we were giving out leaflets, condoms and spreading proper information about the prevention. One more thing, we already started organizing a Twinnet project with Slovakian pharmacy students organization in Košice. We hope that we’ll make strong bonds between our organizations in the future.

SFD, Lithuania

This year we organised the 3rd Anti-Stress Days with the participation of 100 pharmacy students. Following the presentations of various speakers on how to overcome stress, we tried to gain new habits and methods to reduce stress in our daily lives by participating in aromatherapy and yoga workshops. At the end of the event, we were completely relieved of stress in our body with the Zumba dance workshop. MUPSA, Turkey

For our association, this year was about development: the growth of a new team, of the students and of our projects. We implemented two new concepts: ExpoPharma and Learning Journey. The first one covers the professional aspect of our pharma life, while the latter is centred on personal development. We organized a pharma fair where several partners were present to showcase their job opportunities for students and recent graduates and a series of three inspirational workshops. With these two activities, we hope to broaden students’ perspectives on the pharmaceutical field.

SSFB, Romania

In November, TÜRS had an annual Autumn Conference for healthcare students and professionals. The topic for this year was “Innovative Solutions in Pharmacy”. The participants learned about new possibilities in pharmacy services, biopharmaceuticals and e-health systems. This yearly conference is highly acclaimed by Estonian pharmaceutical associations.

TÜRS, Estonia

During November we had a presentation made by a lawyer of the Czech Pharmaceutical Chamber about the responsibilities of a young pharmacist in practise. Also our students had a chance to visit the central laboratory of our biggest pharmaceutical company and last but not least we went deep into the subject of public awareness, whilst emphasising the overuse of antibiotics among the population. USF, Czech Republic

In these last couple of months, VFSO has organized our first pharma speed-date with professionals, a symposium about medicinal cannabis and a company visit to Chipsoft. We can also look back at two successful twinnets with KNPSV and NAPSer, it was a blast working together! Coming up in March 2020: our national congress about Childhood Care.

VFSO, Belgium

In October we organised the 5th Symposium of ŠSSFD on the topic of Biologic and Biosimilar Drugs. We hosted seven speakers from different fields of pharmacy and medicine who each delivered a 30-minute lecture to almost 300 students from different faculties. In December we organized a public health campaign at our faculty raising awareness about “Safe Sex” through a stand where we were giving out leaflets, condoms, and we also had a pop quiz with amazing prizes. At the moment we’re planning a lot more projects which we believe will greatly contribute to public health and the development of Slovenian students on a professional and a personal level.

ŠSSFD, Slovenia