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Young Pharmacist Group
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Essay Call
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EMRO Ask Your Pharmacist
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EPSA Updates
Hello dear IPSFers, It is once more with real pleasure that my team and I edited this newsletter, number 86. Once more we offer an edition full of interesting news from different areas of IPSF. I really hope you will enjoy going through these pages. I would also like to use this little corner to ask you if you already booked your flight for the IPSF World Congress in Thailand! If you are a pharmacy student you are more than welcome to attend this event. More info is available at www.ipsf2011.org. I definitely hope to meet you there, in Hat Yai! Hugs’ Bastien Venot son of Medias and Publications IPSF Chairper
Dear IPSFers,
8-9
Moving On II
10-11
Public Health Updates
12-13
Stop TB Essay
14-15
SEC Meeting
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Internal Relations Corner
16
IPSF Tribute to Jos van der Zandt
It is a great pleasure to introduce you to this edition of the IPSF Newsletter. In this edition you will find news from behind the scenes in the Federation, as well as learn what IPSF is preparing for you. I would like to thank everyone who was involved in preparing this edition of the IPSF Newsletter, especially Bastien Venot, IPSF Chairperson of Media and Publications. I know that you will enjoy reading! In addition to our usual duties we have recently been trying to make the work of the Federation more effective and move IPSF towards a brighter future. Our team began creating the mid-term strategy for the Federation, which our successors should continue in the upcoming years in order to ensure continuity of work and to move the Federation into a position of being one of the well known, respected associations in the healthcare field. We have also tried to strengthen our relationship with our partner organizations to make IPSF a more respected name. The sponsorship strategy was developed in order to bring more money into the Federation so that we can afford to have more, high quality projects in the future. I hope that this initiative will take the name of the Federation to the next level and ensure that the voice of pharmacy students will be heard everywhere. As the future of our profession, we should take the initiative and vocalize our wishes and needs. We are the ones who should form the profession where we will be working. With our enthusiasm and energy we can bring change to our career. IPSF is the best platform in which to make a difference. Tell use what you desire and I can promise we will make the student voice heard! Yours in IPSF, Jan Röder IPSF President
Young Pharmacist Group Dear IPSFers, Let me introduce you the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and especially Young Pharmacist Group. Who we are YPG is the network of young pharmacists within the Federation that gathers all the pharmacists in the world. FIP Members who are under 35 years of age or who graduated from pharmacy school less than 5 years ago qualify to participate in the FIP Young Phamacists' Group - you are automatically a member FREE OF CHARGE with your FIP membership! Networking Our YPG members can be found everywhere in FIP. FIP has two boards – the Board of Pharmaceutical Science (BPS) and the Board of Pharmaceutical Practice (BPP). Both of the boards are divided according to members´ interests. We communicate with our members via a platform called the members-only discussion forum. Moreover, there are pharmacists´ associations in the world who are members of their pharmacy chambers and therefore members of FIP. These young pharmacists pass information on to their colleagues. Structure The YPG Steering Committee is the leadership group of YPG, similar to IPSF Executive. There are four members of Steering Committee in YPG. President, Projects´ Coordinator, Working Group Coordinator and Public Relations´ Officer. The business of YPG is conducted during the annual business meeting held during the FIP Annual World Congress. All YPG members present at FIP Congress are invited to participate in the business meeting. The Working Group Coordinator has the group of experienced YPGers who help with the documentation for YPG. Communication YPG produces an e-newsletter several times per year, which is distributed to the members via the discussion forum. This year we are releasing a translated version for the first time into Arabic, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Also, you can read more about us at FIP pages as well as attend the congress sessions where we are partners for the session or we lead session ourselves. FIP Congress FIP Annual Congress is a great way for students to get involved with FIPYPG. At Congress, YPG and IPSF hold joint social events (including an international evening), and share similar interests and focus for educational
Young Pharmacist Group sessions. YPG helps the transition from being a student to a qualified pharmacist and helps to make FIP more welcoming and less intimidating. Every YPG member has been a student recently so, we understand student needs and in addition to the challenges of being a new pharmacist. The YPG has proposed programming for FIP Annual Congress in Hyderabad, themed “Generics and the patient experience: The pharmacist's role in ensuring safe and effective medicines use”. YPG is looking for practitioners and scientists to provide education on this important topic for patient care. Other programming includes: Your career in Industrial Pharmacy - From drug development to drug distribution, Trends in Community Pharmacy – Debating the future of the profession: Forum for policy makers; Competition for the best oral industrial presentation [Short Oral Communications]; Developing young academics through networking and mentoring. Prizes and awards FIP brings the opportunities to young pharmacists also via grants and prizes. YPG Professional Innovation Grant (a project set in partnership with the FIP Foundation for Education and Research). The Grant consists of € 1000 for the implementation of a project by a young pharmacist/pharmaceutical scientist. Projects can stem from any field of pharmacy (pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical science and/or pharmacy education) but should directly or indirectly benefit or improve health of communities and demonstrate the value-add of pharmacy on health. Pending the acceptance of a project report, the Grant recipient may additionally be awarded a fully-paid trip to attend the Centennial FIP Congress in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in September 2012. Mike How Travel Award (created in 2007 by the Industrial Pharmacy Section (IPS) of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). The Mike How Travel Award is granted to young pharmacists or pharmacy students who have shown keen interest and passion for Industrial Pharmacy. The award consists of an amount of up to 1000 Euros to be used in support of transport, accommodation, and registration for the annual FIP Congress, free attendance to the IPS workshops at the FIP Congress, where applicable and free attendance to the IPS Section dinner at the FIP Congress Leadership opportunities Within YPG it all starts! Your professional career growth is in your hands. There are leadership opportunities within FIP and you may start with Young Pharmacists´ Group. Feel free to contact us at ypg@fip.org for further information. We will be happy to help you find your way to international pharmacy. t Group Young Pharmacis
Critical Appraisal Essay Call Aim of the call: This venture of IPSF aims at identifying and encouraging potential successful pharmacists at an early stage of their careers to be provocative, idealistic and passionate about their thoughts towards pharmacy profession. Call description: IPSF is inviting all you enthusiastic students and recent graduates to share your knowledge, opinions and views on any one the following topics: - Pharmacy in My Generation's Perspective' - How my education has prepared me/helped me to become a pharmacist? - How does pharmacy save lives in my country? Through these topics, we are expecting you to pen down your unique opinion about pharmacy as a profession in your perspective and unique analysis of how you would justify it as being diverse and novel from the previous generations. A detailed overview of transition of various phases would provide a base for mapping the transition. Also, it is very important to include your outlook towards the future of our profession and your thoughts for improvising the current trends you mention in your essay. It is important also to have references in your essay. Prizes: The prize is finalized as being 1 free registration, air fare, visa, and accommodation to the Eastern Mediterranean Pharmaceutical Symposium (EMPS) in Mid-July at Doha, Qatar. For more information, please visit http://www.emps2011-ipsf.org/ Prof. Ian Bates has agreed to publish your essay in PEJ. (PEJ is a peerreview journal and open access to all http://pharmacyeducation.fip.org/, register for free and you will be able to access all the articles published.) Collaboration: IPSF is collaborating with FIP WHO UNESCO Pharmacy Education Taskforce (PET). Once you have submitted your essay, an IPSF executive member and a PET representative; Prof. Futter along with the IPSF Chairperson of Pharmacy Education, will choose the winner of this call and forward it to Prof. Ian Bates, the Editor-in-Chief of the Pharmacy Education Journal (PEJ) who would suggest some minor edits for the essay to be able to be published. For the authors: In order to make sure that your essay is chosen and possibly the winner, check the following guidelines - http://pharmacyeducation.fip.org/for-authors/ Deadline: Email Word document (2003/2007/2010) by May 1, 2011 00:00 (GMT+0) to education@ipsf.org
Ask Your Pharmacist
AYP CAMPAIGN AND SURVEY Review: Ask Your Pharmacist (AYP) is a project recently initiated by IPSF EMRO. The campaign’s goal is to increase the percentage of well-informed patients who are diagnosed with one of the following common diseases: diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis. We aim to go public, to change the conception that a pharmacist is just a drug seller. The AYP campaign is aiming to extend that to a much stronger description and role. The new slogan we want is “Pharmacist for counseling, dispensing, and promoting public health”. AYP’s mission is to give patients with various diseases (acute and/or chronic) an opportunity to ask questions about their conditions, to receive professional advice for a better understanding of their condition and to achieve an optimal lifestyle. Patients will also have to fill out a questionnaire with certain questions indicating certain diseases. The final data will be shared with national/international health organizations. AYP’s program: 1- This event is designed to last for 4 days and 3 nights, excluding the students’ training sessions. 2- The recommended training period for volunteers is 2-3 days. 3- The AYP campaign is expected to be carried out during the period of mid March 2011-mid June 2011. If your association would like to take the opportunity to be one of the initiators of this project during the pilot stage and have your members professionally trained for this project by IPSF EMRO, do not hesitates to contac the IPSF EMRO Regional projects Officer: Mr. Nimer Alkhatib through this address: rpo@emro.ipsf.org. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.
EPSA - an association moving forward Dear IPSF friends, The biggest threat of the development of any students’ association is the big turnover of the people involved in the boards. I believe that development of an association is crucial in order for the members to continuously gain from being part of it. Throughout this year, EPSA has shown that great things can be accomplished even in only one year. EPSA has developed in many areas, and I am proud to be able to tell you what has been going on recently. The most recent EPSA event was the EPSA Annual Reception (AR) held in the European Parliament in Brussels on the 28th of February this year, with the topic “The pharmacist of tomorrow – Developing new roles to meet professional challenges”. The event was hosted by MEP (Member of Parliament) Oana Antonescu. During this event, the EPSA team has the opportunity to present the development achieved during the current mandate to professional associations, stakeholders, other students' associations and, of course, to our members - European pharmacy students. EPSA also offered a very interesting panel discussion with representatives from main European pharmacy associations (Community Pharmacy, Faculties of Pharmacy, Hospital Pharmacy, Industrial Pharmacy and Student representative from EPSA). Mr Jürgen Tiedje, from DG Internal Market of the European Commission, gave a presentation on the revision of the Directive on Recognition of Professional Qualifications, in which the results of the revision will potentially have impact on the way the recognition of pharmacy diploma will be carried out in Europe. The Annual Reception attracted several guests representing main European institutions and associations, and there were also several EPSA members present. In total over 80 guests attended the AR. The event is considered to be a great success for EPSA. The newly created Educational Board in EPSA is really showing results these months. New projects have been created, and the already existing projects have been growing. oBIGsity, an anti-obesity campaign, has just been released from the Public Health and Social Services section of EPSA. The oBIGsity project aims to make people aware of the increasing rate of obesity cases. We believe that both students and people in general should know the consequences of this condition, and most importantly, how to prevent it. The main days of this campaign was 22th - 24th of February, and some member associations are organising it these days. EPSA provided the promotional and informational ma-
EPSA - an association moving forward terial for the campaign, in addition to a suggestion on how to carry it out adaptable to each association’s possibilities and conditions. Another project that is growing fast and that has a great impact on our members is the EPSA Training Project. At the moment the trainer team consists of around 20 trainers, increasing after each TNT (Training New Trainers) event. This project provides our students with the opportunity to develop skills that are important, but that are not usually provided in our curricula - like Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Awareness, Leadership, Networking, Time Management, Presentation Skills and Group Dynamics. These trainings are done during EPSA events as well as locally during members’ events or especially organised training events. Another important part of the Training Project is to lead the Next Generation Programme. EPSA is also developing new projects in the Education and Professional Affairs and Science sections. The EduProf section has developed some new projects, where Skype chat with professionals and Evaluation of CV are two of the newly introduced projects. The Annual EPSA Science Day organised at the Annual Congress is evolving, and consists of both oral and poster presentations of science work done by EPSA members. One of the currently most successful EPSA projects is the IMP (Individual Mobility Project). It is growing rapidly because of the efforts of the IMP Coordinators and the EPSA team. It allows our members to do a paid traineeship in another country in order to gain experience within an area of the pharmacy profession they find interesting. IMP also represents a unique opportunity for students and recent graduates in gaining valuable impressions and experience about foreign European countries, their customs and cultures as well as learning and getting to know the European diversity. The first IMP placement was offered in 2009, and at the moment over 25 placements have been offered - with a rapid growth in the opening of placements. As we are approaching our Annual Congress (that will be held in Lisbon, Portugal this April) and hence elections of the next EPSA team, I am already very curious and anxious to see the work and progress of next year’s team. At the moment we have started the Next Generation Programme, which allows the members that are interested to get to know EPSA better and also to prepare them for becoming a part of the next EPSA team. Yours in EPSA,
kaas Anette Aaland Kro 10/2011 EPSA President 20 nline.org president@epsa-o
Moving On II History Prof. Ian Bates and Dr. Catherine Duggan conceptualized the Moving On projects in 2001. Moving On is a part of IPSF efforts in collaboration initially with The School of Pharmacy, University of London in improving the pharmacy education system globally and highlighting the prospects for improvement in the education fields. It was initiated in 2001 at the 47th IPSF World Congress in Cairo, Egypt. And series of three projects were pursued: Moving On I Academic mobility Moving On II The student learning experience Moving On III Migration intentions of pharmacy students
2002-03 2004 onwards 2004-05
Moving On II "Moving On II" allows world-wide comparisons of the learning experiences of students enrolled in pharmacy programs. It is the first to make international comparisons in the field of pharmacy education and is the largest study of its type to date. Data collected will be used as a tool for education advancement. Students have a voice that can be responsible for shaping their future. Engaging with associations is one way to be heard. Rationale for development of MO II Change is constant in the field of education. There is much interest in the evolution of pharmacy education as health policy world-wide becomes more focused on extending the roles of pharmacy practitioners. Curriculum revamping every few years is very essential, and keeping the concerned department abreast of all the updates to lead to an effective curriculum design and delivery. This project is focused on comparing students’ learning experience globally, determine students’ aspirations and provide evidence that would aid in bringing about potential changes and open the doors for scope of improvement. Aims 1. To determine pharmacy students’ perceptions of their learning experiences and quality of education; 2. To compare and contrast learning experiences of students enrolled in pharmacy degree and diploma programs (that would lead to the attainment of a pharmacist license) across the world; 3. To examine the quality of education from students’ perspectives. Work / Results achieved so far with the 2010/2011 online survey Up to the 15th of March 2011, 767 replies were gathered from 53 countries. The Graph 1 shows the number of replies from each participating country, the black line means 25 replies.
Moving On II
Graph 1 - Distribution of participants globally. Methods Pharmacy students have been completing the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) together with additional items about demographics (age, gender, part-time work, country and university of study), since 2004. Until 2008 10,000 students have shared their learning experiences and in 2010/2011 767 students have replied to the online survey, so far. After submitting their views on the online survey, the results will be analyzed with a statistical software packaged called SPSS and published in a journal of the field. Future goals Future work will include obtaining replies from a more representative group of students from each pharmacy course in universities around the world. In order to provide a more complete and reliable dataset and to clarify some of the issues that have rose from the data so far. Continuing MO II To strengthen the process of data analysis and create robust conclusions that would aid in curriculum development, we have re-launched this project headed by Andreia Bruno (FIP Pharmacy Education Taskforce, education@fip.org) and Francisco Pereira (IPSF Moving On Coordinator 2010-11, movingon@ipsf.org). The survey is available as an online version to make it easier and simpler. If you would like to participate again or the first time please click on the link - http://bit.ly/g9KtwO Tell us how you feel about your learning experience, what you think it can be different, what you like to see in a near future... Remember that the students of today will be the pharmacists of tomorrow! Grab the IPSF experience and be change-makers! Dimple Modi tion of Pharmacy Educa IPSF Chairperson Andreia Bruno rch Coordinator FIP Project Resea
Public Health We have successfully added three members to the committee. We are also in the process of publishing the semi-annual newsletter, and the next task will be to get the ACDC website up and running. Sections of the website will be given to committee members to work on, and I will be working to have it completely finished by 30 April 2011. In addition, I am working on creating an online CE course pharmacists can take for credit towards keeping their licenses current. This is a long, complicated process, but I am hoping to have it coordinated Christine Cooper n Coordinator 2010-11 Anti-Counterfeit Drug Campaig with either APhA or ASHP by this summer. Counterfeit@ipsf.org Shortly after the congress, my subcommittee and I started to prepare for World AIDS Day (WAD). This also means the preparation of the HIV/AIDS campaign kit. The kit is composed of a number of different publications, which include posters, fact cards, a step-by-step campaign booklet, myths and facts cards, and of course, the IPSF Worldwide WAD Project- the Human Ribbon Project. It wasn’t until the 1st of November that the entire campaign kit had been prepared in addition to the pre-campaign newsletter. This kit has been sent to the CP and VIP group already. There were a total of 16 countries that requested the campaign kit. On the 1st of December, World AIDS Day took place. Up to this point, we have received a total of 10 activity reports from our IPSF members. The post-campaign newsletter has been prepared since January and is already published. For the rest of the year, due to personal issues, I will be restarting my work on the database in April. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that the preparations for the IPSF Congress have already been started. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who organized an HIV/AIDS campaign this year, and a special thanks goes to Sharon, who has been a great support in organizing the campaign kit. However, my subcommittee, especially Lina, shall not be forgotten. Without you, I would not have been able to get eveJohanna Walz rything done in time! -11 HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign Coordinator 2010 hivaids@ipsf.org As the TB coordinator, I have been preparing the Pre TB newsletters and campaign kit, which are to be used for campaigning and awareness purposes. I formed a TB subcommittee to support the cause. The subcommittee has worked with me to prepare the TB newsletters, drafts, official invitations, campaigning strategies and the TB video, which is a work in progress that will be used for general public awareness after approval by the Public Health Committee for World TB Day on March 24th, 2011. In the upcoming 6 months of my 1-year term as TB coordinator, post-campaign work has to be done, documents and reports need to be collected, compiled, prepared and submitted on time. Also, the maintenance of the database and a systematic hand over of documents will be done for the future TB coordinator so that our successors can have the advantage of Jasmit Singh ator 2010-11 Tuberculosis Awareness Campaign Coordin our work too. tb@ipsf.org
Public Health The Healthy Living and Diabetes Awareness Campaign was launched on November 14th, 2010 and associations from all over the world showed creativity and interest in BRINGING DIABETES TO LIGHT. Different audiences were reached and the goal of spreading awareness around the world through pharmacy students was achieved. Different ideas were developed by the marvelous teams working on the campaign, they include the following: Awareness sessions were held- Information tents were set-up Blood sugar levels were measured- BMRs were calculated Human blue rings were photographed Public and pharmacy student awareness was increased through the use of fliers, posters, banners and booklets. Each and every member of all the teams around the world gave their time and effort to deliver the message. Now, you may ask, what’s next? We are excited to announce the publication of our post World Diabetes Day (WDD) campaign newsletter, coming soon! Watch out for this upcoming publication and learn more about what happened for WDD 2010. In addition, since most of the members involved in the awareness campaign will be gathering for the IPSF Congress 2011, we are excited about our upcoming congress workshop and what we can do together to support diabetes patients. Please feel free to email diabetes@ipsf.org should you have any suggestions for the upcoming congress workshop. Fedaa Moussa ness Coordinator Healthy Living and Diabetes Awarediabetes@ipsf.org 2010-11
My goals and plans: 1. Make a Tobacco Alert Team (IPSF): I have 6 friends on my Tobacco Alert Team:… 2. Introduce the Tobacco Alert Campaign: … 3. Start a pre- and post- event media campaign: Not yet, but we are preparing for it now. 4. Initiate and maintain a database: In progress Plans for the rest of the year: 1. Increase the communication with the tobacco team. 2. Prepare and publish the campaign kit, as well as the pre-media campaign. 3. Increase communication with the Chairperson of Public Health to prepare for the upcoming campaign. 4. Ask the subcommittee to make their own team to do their job, it will be helpful for them and future tobacco campaign teams. 5. Find as much information as I can about World No Tobacco Day, from WHO, other websites, etc. 6. Prepare the campaign for Thailand Congress (after I get confirmation). Plans for upcoming projects: 1. Campaign kit (done in February 2011) 2. Pre-campaign newsletter (3 April 2011) -11 asih Dwi Ruth KurrtniCampaign Coordinator 2010 le Tobacco A sf.org tobacco@ip
Stop TB Essay Pharmacists’ Role in the Management of Tuberculosis As health care practitioners, there is a great need to heed the words of Dr. Giuliano Gargioni, “We have a great responsibility to people with tuberculosis all over the world. Every step we take should be a step towards ending all deaths from tuberculosis.” Indeed, tuberculosis (TB) is a worldwide problem. It ranks as the eighth leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries; among adults aged 15–59, it ranks as the third cause of death. Pharmacists have a key role in addressing TB and its elimination. Specifically, pharmacists are crucial in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of tuberculosis worldwide. They are also educators and advocators for their patients in the overall management of TB. Prevention is ideal in dealing with any disease due to the decreased long-term costs to the healthcare system and improved patient outcomes. When it comes to tuberculosis, pharmacists can stress the importance of simple, non-pharmacological measures to decrease transmission such as coughing or sneezing into the elbow or sleeve rather than into the air or the hand during their everyday interactions with patients. With regards to pharmacological therapy, pharmacists work with patients and other health care practitioners to instigate Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT). IPT can decrease the risk of TB by 33% overall and by 64% when targeted to people living with HIV who have had a positive tuberculin skin test. Since pharmacists are often the first point of contact for people with symptoms of TB, they can monitor adherence in patients on IPT and assess their signs and symptoms on a regular basis to see if they correspond with active tuberculosis. In this aspect, they are integral in the early detection of TB. Drug therapy counselling to all patients in the provision of patient-centred care is within the scope of all pharmacists’ practice, including patients receiving anti-TB medications. If a patient has contracted tuberculosis, pharmacists can provide detailed care plans explaining drug therapy, and monitoring for each individual patient. Pharmacists should be knowledgeable about tuberculosis and its treatment and be able to advise accordingly. Furthermore, pharmacists have the niche in being able to answer drug interaction and adverse reaction questions especially with anti-retroviral therapy medications if patients have HIV as a comorbidity. Educational points should always include ways to minimize transmission as an estimated 30–40% of people with close exposure to tuberculosis will become infected, and someone with untreated tuberculosis is predicted to infect 10–15 people per year. The general population should be encouraged to decrease contact with people infected by TB and patients who have tuberculosis should limit their exposure to other immunocompromised patients.
Stop TB Essay Besides prevention and educating patients on treatment options, another vital part of managing tuberculosis and its resistance is ensuring adherence to regimens through monitoring. Pharmacists can do so via administering directly observed treatment (DOT) short-course therapy for patients living in their community. They can also assess adherence at least once a month through patient interviews and pill counts in areas where urine analysis en masse cannot be done. If non-adherence is noted, pharmacists can build a rapport with the patients, find the barriers to adherence and address them accordingly. For instance, patients should be advised of the potential adverse effects commonly associated with the anti-TB medications in their regimen. If the patient does encounter any of these side effects to a disruptive degree, they should be advised to report them but not stop the medications abruptly as some of the adverse effects are transitory. Through ongoing discussions with patients, pharmacists can re-iterate and educate patients on the importance of meeting drug therapy guidelines regarding the dosing, and duration of therapy for each individual patient. Related to patient education is the promotion of public awareness and advocacy for increased access to treatments of tuberculosis. The former is critical in reducing the stigma of diagnosis and encouraging early care-seeking behaviour by patients. This will lead to better patient outcomes on a global scale. The latter is especially critical in areas that are hardest hit by this unique disease; Africa and Asia. In these parts of the world, barriers to effective and appropriate care of patients with TB include a lack of facilities for diagnosis, lack of skilled health care providers, and limited or no drug therapy access. Pharmacists must advocate for timely and appropriate access to anti-TB medications irrespective of their location of practice and on behalf of their patients and community as a part of the overall management of tuberculosis. In summary, pharmacists are key players in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis through promoting and monitoring adherence, and educating patients and the general public about disease control and prevention. During drug therapy, they must work with the patient and other health care providers to monitor for effectiveness, adverse effects, and drug interactions based on each individual patient. On a day to day basis, pharmacists must advocate for their patients to ensure rational use of medications by those who need it, in a timely manner. a.
ronto, Canad REFERENCES ia Zhang ent from the University of To ar M Clark, P. et al. Effect of pharmacist-led patient d Pharmacy stu education on adherence to tuberculosis treatment. 2007(64):497 – 506. Gargioni, G. December 17th, 2010. End-of-year statement from Dr Giuliano Gargioni, Executive Secretary a.i. of the Stop TB Partnership. Available from http://www.stoptb.org/news/stories/2010/ns10_065.asp. Accessed 19 December 2010. Mitrzyk, B. 2008. Treatment of Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis and the Role of the Pharmacist. Pharmacotherapy. 2008; 28(10):1243–1254) Mkele, G. The role of the pharmacist in TB management. SA Pharmaceutical Journal. March10pp18-21 World Health Organization. 2010. The Global Plan to Stop TB 2011 – 2015. Accessed December 20th, 2010. http://www.stoptb.org/assets/documents/global/plan/TB_GlobalPlanToStopTB2011-2015.pdf
Let’s talk about SEP! From March 13th-18th, the Student Exchange Committee Meeting was held in Den Haag, the Netherlands. The FIP office played host to the Chairperson of Student Exchange, Melissa Teo (Australia), Bálint Toth (Hungary), Slaviša Stojkovič (Serbia), Kerstin Heyder (Germany), Milanka Marunic (Serbia), Ilse Bollen (The Netherlands) and Elena Fasniuc (Romania).
SEC Members that attended the Meeting
On our agenda was a discussion about the importance of regional SEOs in SEP. We had a thorough discussion and believe that utilizing members of SEC to assist in proving SEP in each region may be useful. However, this matter will be further discussed with SEOs and the Regional Working Groups before presentation to the General Assembly in Thailand. Another topic in the agenda was the SEP database, and the issues that have been identified so far are going to be clarified. Starting next year, we are introducing and enforcing Quality of SEP by including it in the IPSF official documents, whereby students must complete a minimum number of working hours during their exchange. Also, because our aim this year is to have more than 800 exchanges, we will find a way to “reward” you for growth in your association.
This week we also talked about the SEP grant recipients. Their names have been confirmed. We h0pe they have a great exchange wherever they go. Regarding the Application Form Reallocation Project, SEOs already received the results. A new collaboration will soon be established between the European Law Students Association (ELSA) and IPSF. This project will prove to be a new cornerstone for IPSF. More information will be available soon. We also talked about the PJT (Pharmaceutical Japan Tour) held this year in February in Tokyo, Japan. The other SEC members were really happy with the participants’ impressions and will suggest to the RC to continue to run this tour every year if possible. Additionally, new member countries or those who are not able to run SEP yet are more than welcome to organize such tours.
Grandma and Grandpa of SEC gave good input on the meeting
Let’s talk about SEP! After the conclusion of the meeting, we made plans to visit Sin City-Amsterdam. We explored the Amsterdam city center and the Red Light District. The weather was really nice and we had the chance to take a lot of pictures. We also had the opportunity to visit Leiden, the city where Ilse Bollen is currently studying. We were invited to meet the local pharmacy student association and were delighted for the introduction. Thank you Ilse! What’s more is that we were the last people to stay in the IPSF flat. The Execs are already searching for a new one.
Yours in IPSF,
Elena Fasniuc
Viva la pharmacie!!!
IPSF Internal Relations Dear IPSFers, The first ever IPSF Contact Persons’ online meeting was held at the end of March. It was a great opportunity to communicate with all of the members, to share ideas and discuss very important topics in IPSF. More than 30 COs were divided into three groups due to time zones. The proposed agenda: 1. CP Introduction 2. Association Updates 3. Communication and activity reports: IPSF webpage, IPSF Facebook page, IPSF e-groups 4. The 57th IPSF Congress: registration, official delegates, communication with RC 5. The second executive meeting CP’s ideas, recommendations and suggestions 6. Any other business Meeting outcomes were presented during the 2nd executive meeting. Opinions from our members can really direct our work and improve every segment of IPSF. Communication via messages on e-groups mostly consist of sharing activity reports, informing about important events and projects….The Skype meeting showed that live conversation is very important in IPSF networking. I am looking forward to the next Skype meeting. I would really like to encourage all CPs to attend it, and to meet friends worldwide while actively participating in IPSF work. Your sincerely,
dovic Vladimir Obra elations n of Internal R o rs e p ir a h C F IPS
IPSF Tribute to Jos van der Zandt Just before Christmas, on 18 December 2010, the IPSF community was shocked and saddened to hear about the sudden death of IPSF Honorary Life Member Jos van der Zandt. Jos suffered a heart attack while out jogging – he was only 51 years old. Jos van der Zandt means a great deal to many people around the world. He became involved with IPSF during his pharmacy student years in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He dedicated a great deal of his time to the organisation and served as Treasurer of IPSF in the mid-1980s. It was in this period that I got to know Jos myself and we served on the IPSF Executive together. Jos was a very capable Treasurer. He took his responsibilities seriously, worked hard and was determined to apply high standards to his work. There were no emails in those days but the Dutch Post was kept busy delivering may bags of international correspondence to Jos’ apartment in the Kloksteeg in Utrecht. Jos had firm principles and wasn’t afraid to speak up. In fact, he took on the position of IPSF Treasurer because he believed that the presentation of accounts needed to be improved. In the 1980s, with the computer age still in its infancy, Jos embraced the new technology and applied it to the benefit of the IPSF organisation. True to his word, he sorted out the accounts and developed a system that future Treasurers would thank him for in the years ahead. Jos travelled a great deal in this period in his life. Visiting USA, Panama, Portugal, Israel, UK, France and Sweden - he participated in conferences and international meetings and made many friends. He was a good travel companion – always well prepared, organised and very knowledgeable about his destination. During the IPSF meeting in Israel in 1987 I remember visiting Masada - the hilltop fortress in the Judean desert. It was extremely hot and we all decided to take the usual visitor route to the top via the cable car. However this was not to be the way for Jos who had made up his mind to take the steep winding path up to the summit on foot. He made it - and I think this sums up Jos’ determination to succeed at the goals he set himself. It goes without saying that IPSF was also a lot of fun in those days. Jos joined in the many IPSF parties with enthusiasm. We remember him shaving off his beard at one point and we seem to have gathered quite a few photographs of Jos enjoying a beer or two. It was truly an amazing time, and although our University days are long behind us, the friends we made then are still special today. We keep in touch and hold an annual reunion. Jos joined the early reunions in Dublin and Brussels in the 1990s. His chosen career path took him away from pharmacy, and he went on to have a successful career in various financial positions with DHL in The Netherlands and Belgium. The bond with IPSF was still there and it was very special that Jos and his wife J-Lee came to the reunion which was held last May in Maastricht. Many people who had not seen Jos for a number of years were delighted to meet up again and enjoy some good times just like before.
Exec meeting USA , Jim (USA), Ilan, Luz (with mascot), James, Vivien, Jos
Jos will be sadly missed by his IPSF friends. We have all been looking at photographs of happy days together and are deeply shocked at the sudden loss of a dear friend. We are grateful for having shared these times with Jos and remember him as: steadfast, trustworthy, impeccably mannered and a perfect gentleman. I am reminded of the words of the writer CS Lewis when he reflected on the life we have lived. He said “The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.” On behalf of IPSF friends I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to Jos’ wife J-Lee and to his family.
Vivien Moffat Honorary Life Member IPSF Past President 1987-1988