A global call to action issued today by FIP sets out 18 urgent actions needed from academic institutions, professional organisations, policymakers and key pharmaceutical stakeholders in order to help prevent the shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030 predicted by the World Health Organization, through advancing pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education.

Among these actions are to:

• Increase capacity to provide a competent pharmaceutical workforce;
• Support the development of early career and advanced specialist frameworks;
• Ensure the quality of the pharmaceutical workforce by quality assuring pharmaceutical education and training;
• Enhance interdisciplinary and interprofessional education and collaboration with key stakeholders;
• Support the development of CPD programmes, such as for return to practice after career breaks and sector changes; and
• Generate pharmaceutical education intelligence to measure educational outcomes and inform investments.

“We can only meet the health and pharmaceutical needs of our societies if a flexible and adaptable pharmaceutical workforce is developed and deployed appropriately to apply its knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours and abilities to the maximum. As we draw closer to 2030, we are urging all stakeholders to take our recommended actions to advance pharmaceutical education now if we are to have any prospect of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said FIP CEO Catherine Duggan.

The actions were presented at the FIP-UNITWIN Global Summit on Pharmaceutical Education earlier today, where participants learnt about their region’s roadmap, developed by key stakeholders at FIP-UNITWIN workshops in October. The regional roadmaps have been consolidated in FIP’s global call to action.