During the 80th World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, held in Seville, Spain, in September 2022, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) launched a global roadmap for pharmacy in support of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. This roadmap provides the federation’s members and partners with a strategic overview of FIP’s mission to advance and transform pharmacy worldwide, including contribution to the global agenda on sustainable development1. The roadmap is intended as an enabling tool for FIP members, not only providing a forward path for the profession in terms of sustainable development, but also for universal health coverage through pharmacy, enabled by the FIP Development Goals (DGs)2 —of which DG 21 is sustainability in pharmacy— and anchored to FIP’s vision of a “world where everyone benefits from access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines and pharmaceutical care”1.
FIP is committed to supporting its members based on their needs, priorities and capacities. It recognises that there is no one-size fits-all model and that sustainable development in one place, region or country will not look the same in another. FIP also recognises the importance of forging new partnerships and alliances and reinforcing existing ones. While it is widely known that FIP has been in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1948, FIP bolstered this relationship with a Memorandum of Understanding3 in 2019 with the WHO for specific work to support initiatives in human resources for health, primary health care and universal health coverage, driven by the UN 2030 agenda.
After a gap of three years interrupting FIP’s world congress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Seville was the venue for pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacy educators from around the world to reunite face to face. Under the theme “Pharmacy united in the recovery of health care”, the congress addressed the new challenges that have arisen since FIP’s world congress in 2019, and the opportunities that lie ahead for the pharmaceutical profession4.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has tested health systems to their limits, pharmacy professionals have shown themselves to be an integral part of them. With the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic still current and on the minds of healthcare professionals, we must take the opportunity to create more comprehensive plans to better manage health crises that may be on the horizon. Several features of the pandemic may serve as useful springboards to develop better plans for future emergencies and accelerate change in our healthcare systems4. It is our responsibility to review our shared experiences and search for solutions to advance the well-being of global communities.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic is still active, stakeholders are thinking about how to implement post-pandemic changes to healthcare delivery based on lessons learnt during the global emergency5. As an essential actor within health care, pharmacy has shown both innovation and the ability to develop solutions to support healthcare systems and patients. Examples include telepharmacy (which has enabled remote counselling of patients with non-communicable diseases), development of new vaccines, and supporting healthcare systems by vaccinating the public.
Key enablersA major tool for identifying and communicating our pandemic experiences and learnings is the FIP Global Pharmaceutical Observatory (GPO)6. Developed and maintained by FIP, the GPO is a worldwide data hub informing the advocacy work of FIP members and partners including in areas of policy development, decision-making, the advancement of pharmaceutical practice, health and life-sciences, education, and skills training, and, of course, workforce intelligence. The GPO seeks to collate and validate global data on pharmacy and pharmaceutical education and workforce, practice and science that will feed into the FIP DG indicators effectively and efficiently. The GPO will undertake comprehensive analyses and provide accessible, quality intelligence that supports FIP member organisations in their work.
The GPO is, in fact, one of six key strategic and organisational enablers to reach our 2030 destination, the other five being:
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The FIP Platform for Provision through Partnerships (this was established in 2021 to provide a global platform to engage, develop and support FIP members through partnerships. It includes the FIP Seal, which recognises partnerships based on quality provision to support FIP member needs and priorities).
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FIP regional engagement and support programmes.
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FIP transformation programmes.
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The FIP Hub (which will primarily support continued implementation of the FIP Development Goals, bringing together workforce development, pharmaceutical practice and science elements).
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FIP ways of working.
Under these key enablers are numerous FIP projects, all of which are vital to the transformation of our profession and its contribution to the global agenda. These include COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness (part of FIP’s new SustainabilityRx programme7 of work alongside environment and planetary health), and work on immunisation (under FIP’s disease prevention programme5).
FIP’s work is wide-reaching and extremely varied, ranging from reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to supporting humanitarian work. FIP has advocated the role of pharmacists in preventing AMR for many years, but the recent establishment of the FIP Commission on AMR8 aims to continue to facilitate the contribution of the profession around the world through surveillance, monitoring of antimicrobial use and resistance and regulation. FIP is also active in supporting the profession to meet needs in times of emergency. When the invasion of Ukraine took place in February, for example, FIP responded to a direct request for support from its Ukrainian member organisation. That support took many forms, including producing tables of equivalence between medicines registered in Ukraine and those available in other countries, and supply of essential medicines through a dedicated FIP fund. FIP is also supporting pharmacists in the humanitarian arena, for example, through its competency framework9 to guide development. Our federation’s recent work has also included:
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Addressing gaps in digital health education through a “Train the trainer” course10.
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Inspiring early career women in pharmaceutical sciences/education with the first FIPWiSE Rising Stars list11.
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Making available several new resources to support practice transformation in mental health, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
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Producing a toolkit for addressing inequities in pharmaceutical education12 and a global competency framework for educators and trainers in pharmacy13.
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Policy statements11 to support the profession with point-of-care testing, continuing professional development, and quality assurance of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education.
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Making known pharmacy’s commitment to a healthier world in at least 140 countries and territories through FIP’s World Pharmacist Day 2022 campaign14.
It is all these many areas of work combined that will ensure transformation and our profession’s ability to contribute to the 2030 agenda.
Milestones definedOne of the most important conclusions of the FIP world congress in Seville was that pharmacists are emerging as true healthcare professionals who add value for patients and for health systems. Moreover, pharmacists have expanded their services to patients since the pandemic began. However, evaluation of these services will be required because only that which is measurable is likely to be recognised. Indeed, the FIP roadmap sets out milestones for the federation to 2030. These include a FIP Health Ministers Summit in 2023 to showcase evidence of the impact of pharmacy, formal launch of the FIP Hub, renewal of FIP’s strategic plan (to cover 2025 to 2029), further refinement of delivery and impact with health ministers, and evaluation of how FIP has delivered on the UN agenda.
We invite you to explore the new FIP global roadmap, to consider how you will contribute to sustainable advancement of pharmacy worldwide, and to define your own professional milestones to 2030.
Conflict of interestsNo conflict of interests.
Early Access date (11/13/2022).
