About us
The South East Asian Region Pharmaceutical (SEARPharm) Forum was founded in 2001 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and national pharmaceutical associations in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Objectives and regional priorities:
The objectives of the Forum are to encourage and support dialogue and collaboration among national and regional pharmaceutical associations in the Region through:
- Improving health in the Region and contributing towards the goal of universal health coverage (UHC) through the development and improvement of pharmacy practice, pharmacy education and pharmaceutical sciences, and pharmaceutical workforce development.
- Supporting the implementation of projects aimed at the advancement of pharmacy practice, pharmacy education and pharmaceutical sciences, and pharmaceutical workforce development in partnership with pharmaceutical organisations of the Region.
- Cascading and promoting the implementation of the appropriate policies of FIP and of WHO at a regional level in relation to pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical sciences and undergraduate, graduate and continuing pharmacy education programmes for the pharmaceutical workforce.
All the activities, documents and positions of the Forum will be aligned with the principles, policies and priorities of FIP.
Our priority FIP Development Goals are:
- DG 1 (Academic capacity)
- DG 2 (Early career training strategy)
- DG 4 (Advanced and specialist development)
- DG 5 (Competency development)
- DG 12 (Pharmacy intelligence)
- DG 15 (People-centred care)
- DG 16 (Communicable diseases)
- DG 17 (Antimicrobial stewardship)
- DG 19 (Patient safety)
- DG 20 (Digital health)
Other key priorities are preventing diseases through pharmacy-based vaccinations (PBV), promoting self-care and common ailments management, addressing gender inequalities and transforming the pharmaceutical workforce.
How we work
Our executive committee 2026-2027 is as follows:
President: Dr Venkata Narayana Tanniru, India (2024-2028)
Vice president: Chinta Abayawardana, Sri Lanka (2024-2027)
Vice president, treasurer and project director: Manjiri Gharat, India (2024-2028)
Secretary of pharmacy practice: Dr Ronak Shrestha, Nepal (2025-2029)
Secretary of pharmacy education and pharmaceutical workforce development: Dr Khanita Duangchaemkarn, Thailand (2025-2029)
Secretary of pharmaceutical sciences: Tisara De Silva, Sri Lanka (2024-2027)
ECPG observer: Dr Praveen Devanandan, India
FIP organisations in membership and regional representation
The Forum reported active collaboration and communication with national and regional pharmacy organisations, associations, professional societies, syndicates and regulatory stakeholders across the South East Asian Region.
Visit FIP’s directory of organisations in membership to see FIP’s members across the region.
General assembly and governance
The current statutes of the South East Asian Region Pharmaceutical Forum were adopted in April 2024.
The latest annual report covers June 2025 to May 2026.
If you have any questions or want to know more about the SEARPharm, contact us at searpharm@fip.org.
Follow SEARPharm on social media 
Activities and projects
Empowering community pharmacists for NCD prevention and management
In 2026, the South East Asian Region Pharmaceutical (SEARPharm) Forum has launched a new initiative, “Empowering community pharmacists for non-communicable diseases (NCDs)”, in India, with a focus on strengthening pharmacists' role in the prevention and management of hypertension and diabetes.
In March 2026, 33 community pharmacy owners in Goa completed training. Subsequent training in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana equipped 95 community pharmacists, covering BP measurement, counselling, vaccination across the life course, adherence monitoring and follow-up.
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Pharmaceutical workforce development
SEARPharm is collecting pharmacy workforce intelligence, beginning with India and intended to extend to surrounding South-East Asian countries, in collaboration with the education division and students forum of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA).
Tobacco cessation
Initiative to mobilise Indian pharmacists to offer tobacco cessation services, described by SEARPharm as a potential collaboration among IPA, FIP and WHO.
Resources
South East Asia global pharmacist competency framework
The FIP GbCF contains a set of competencies and core behavioural statements that are intended to be generally applicable to the global pharmacy workforce, supporting the development of foundation and early-career pharmacists. The FIP UNESCO-UNITWIN Centre for Excellence in South East Asia led the adaptation, using the FIP GbCF as a mapping tool and incorporating input from eight countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) to ensure relevance to the region. The competencies and behaviours in the adapted framework are grouped into four categories of: Pharmaceutical public health, pharmaceutical care, organisation and management, and professional/personal. The document also includes recommendations for implementation and future development. Access it here.
Vaccination training modules
SEARPharm’s vaccination project developed 15 self-paced modules covering immunity, vaccine production, immunisation programmes, vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccinators, administration, AEFI/ISSR, record keeping and storage/handling.