“Countries with a lower number of pharmacists per capita are more likely to have reduced access to medicines, as pharmacists are needed at every stage of the pharmaceutical supply chain,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, has said in his report on addressing the global shortage of medicines and vaccines presented at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, this week.

In his report, Dr Tedros linked access to medicines with solving workforce issues. “Pharmacists are needed at every stage of the pharmaceutical supply chain. . . . The development, production, procurement, distribution and appropriate use of medicines, as well as the supportive functions of regulation, all require a competent, equitably distributed pharmaceutical workforce,” he said. In particular, the director-general’s report references FIP’s “Global pharmacy workforce intelligence: Trends report” and our Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals.

FIP has been working towards addressing the global shortages of and inadequate access to medicines and vaccines for nearly a decade, and in a statement to the assembly today, we voiced our support for a systematic approach for ensuring the pharmaceutical workforce is corresponding to the local needs in terms of size, competencies, education and performance.

FIP is also due to make a statement on pandemic influenza preparedness and, on behalf of the World Health Professions Alliance, statements on new delivery models for integrated, people-centred services (WHO’s draft thirteenth general programme of work 2019-23) and m-health.