FIP works to advance the profession of pharmacy so that people everywhere have access to the expertise of pharmacists and to medicines. Our activities include: working in partnership with other organisations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), to improve global health; speaking for the profession on current issues, such as patient safety, through giving statements at the World Health Assembly; supporting our members (national professional organisations, scientific organisations, schools of pharmacy and individuals), publishing reports and guidance, and organising international congresses to provide the profession with an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences face-to-face.
FIP PROGRAMMES OF WORK
Antimicrobial stewardship
The FIP Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Programme supports pharmaceutical practitioners, scientists, educators, and pharmacy organisations around the globe in their efforts to minimise antimicrobial resistance (AMR). FIP is driving action through its Commission on AMR, which is comprised of pharmacy experts with international reach and diverse professional and geographic backgrounds, enabling the One Health approach required to tackle this complex challenge. The Commission’s activities span education, policy and public health, with a strong emphasis on strengthening antimicrobial stewardship across all levels of care. A key area of work is supporting the appropriate antimicrobial medicines use, including engagements across all WHO regions to ensure alignment with regional AMR priorities. FIP marks World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) annually, using this global campaign as a key moment to highlight the vital role of the pharmacy profession in antimicrobial stewardship. This programme is in line with the ambitions described by FIP Development Goal (DG) 17 (Antimicrobial stewardship), 16 (Communicable diseases) and 19 (Patient safety).
More information can be found here.
Disease prevention
This FIP priority programme aims to advance the role of pharmacists in the area of disease prevention strategies that enable people to remain healthy, functional and productive, leading to happier lives, stronger economic growth, and reduced pressure on health systems. Although this role is important for both communicable and non-communicable diseases, this FIP programme focuses on the prevention of communicable diseases through vaccination, the prevention of vector-borne diseases, and the prevention of other prevalent communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, mpox and sexually transmitted infections.
A key element of the prevention programme is the role of pharmacists in tackling vaccine hesitancy, building vaccine confidence and improving vaccination coverage rates throughout the life course. This programme is primarily (but not solely) associated with FIP DDG16 (Communicable diseases).
More information can be found here.
Equity and equality (EquityRx)
FIP EquityRx is FIP’s Equity & equality programme and it supports the progress and implementation of FIP DG 10 locally, regionally and globally beyond gender and diversity balances — extending to equity in access to care and all that this encompasses. Operating under the motto “Pharmacy leaving no one behind”, FIP EquityRx is a large programme that works across pharmaceutical practice, education, science, and workforce and encompasses many unique areas of work, all of which come together to support equity and equality for all. These include gender equity, vaccine equity, maternal health, health literacy, and FIP Women in Science and Education (FIPWiSE).
More information can be found here.
The Multinational Needs Assessment and Surveillance programmes
FIP Global Pharmaceutical Observatory (GPO) effectively and efficiently collates and validates global data on pharmacy workforce and practice, and pharmaceutical science. The Multinational Needs Assessment and Surveillance (MNAP) provides a framework for data-driven, evidence-led projects related to our member organisations and FIP priorities, supported and enabled by the GPO. Workstreams predominately deliver on FIP DG 12 (Pharmacy intelligence). The various projects are tailored to meet the specific needs of FIP member organisations while aligning with broader regional and global health objectives of FIP.
The MNAP projects evaluate FIP members’ needs by assessing challenges and areas for development within the scope of pharmacy practice, education, science, and workforce development. By identifying these key areas, FIP can direct resources and projects towards addressing these needs effectively. The projects are most often framed within the context of the FIP DGs.
The surveillance projects focus on the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of pharmacy-related data. This is important for the monitoring and understanding of the evolving trends and advancements in key areas of practice, education, and workforce. Through surveillance, FIP offers its members access to valuable data visualisations and interactive tools facilitated by the FIP Atlas, the FIP impact database, and DGs indicators.
By establishing and monitoring needs across nations and members and feeding into regional and global needs assessment, the GPO’s remit aligns to the vision for it to become a comprehensive and respected source of data and intelligence for the pharmacy workforce, pharmacy practice, and pharmaceutical science worldwide.
More information can be found here.
Humanitarian (HumanityRx)
The FIP HumanityRx programme highlights initiatives and activities led and supported by FIP and by pharmacists and pharmacy organisations across the globe in response to humanitarian crisis. The programme supports pharmacists and pharmacy teams involvement in managing access to medicines and health services in disaster and emergency settings. Pharmacists often play vital roles demonstrating how adaptable the profession is depending on the crisis at hand and how colleagues can be more involved in supporting healthcare delivery in disaster and emergency settings, also highlighting the interprofessional collaboration among healthcare professionals in humanitarian arenas.
More information can be found here.
Non-communicable diseases
The FIP non-communicable diseases (NCDs) programme aims to advance the role of pharmacists in the prevention, early detection, and management of NCDs and in the promotion of the optimal use of medicines in long-term conditions. The programme prioritises the five United Nations priority NCD areas (cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and mental health), and common risk factors such as physical inactivity, tobacco use, unhealthy diet, alcohol consumption, and air pollution. The programme supports pharmacists in multidisciplinary teams, promoting evidence-based interventions, adherence to treatment, and integrated care for people living with single or multiple NCDs. This programme includes the FIP Practice Transformation Programme on NCDs and aligns with FIP DG 15 (People-centred care).
More information can be found here.
Patient safety
Patient safety is a high priority for pharmacists across our profession, who are responsible for ensuring that when a patient receives and uses a medicine, it will not cause harm. On a global level, FIP works closely with the WHO directly supporting its patient safety programme and has been closely involved in advancing and advocating global patient safety. FIP also prepares tools for pharmacists practising in different settings and countries across the globe. FIP also annually joins the global commemorations of World Patient Safety Day on 17 September, highlighting the key role pharmacists play in preventing errors, promoting safe medication use, and empowering patients. This work is in line with the ambitions of the FIP DG 19 (Patient safety) and our contributes to the delivery of the DGDl.
More information can be found here.
Primary health care
The FIP primary health care (PHC) programme aims to support and strengthen pharmacy to deliver evidence of impact in PHC in line with the WHO’s Astana Declaration (2018). The programme supports countries and regions with PHC policies for enabling pharmaceutical policies and systems. It seeks to increase the knowledge and skills of the pharmaceutical workforce and promotes interprofessional collaboration in delivering PHC to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) leaving no one behind and consolidate our programmes of work in a policy framework that is clearly aligned with the Astana Declaration and the WHO-UNICEF Operational Framework for PHC. The programme closely works with FIP Hub, GPO and the FIP priority programme areas as it contributes to the delivery of all 21 FIP DGs.
More information can be found here.
Self-care and management of common ailments
This programme aims to leverage and support pharmacists' expertise, accessibility and trusted relations in the community to provide quality, evidence-based information and advice on self-care products and strategies to the public, to promote health literacy and to empower patients towards better health and well-being. In addition, the management of common ailments by pharmacists helps reduce pressure on general practice and emergency departments, thus contributing to more efficient, convenient and responsive health systems.
Self-care and the management of common ailments is a key area for advancing pharmacy worldwide, on par with the growing global importance of self-care and patient empowerment in health as a key pillar of primary health care, health system sustainability and universal health coverage, as well as in meeting the WHO’s triple billion objectives. The main FIP DGs linked to the self-care programme are DG 18 (access to medicines, devices and services), DG 14 (Medicines expertise) and DG 15 (People-centred care).
Under this programme, our work includes both advocacy of pharmacists’ role in advancing self-care and the management of common ailments, and supporting practice development in specific areas of self-care.
More information can be found here.
Sustainability (SustainabilityRx)
The FIP SustainabilityRx programme explores the areas of environment, economic and social sustainability and links directly to FIP DG 21. The programme aims to ensure that the profession is enabled and remunerated to play its role across all sectors to ensure universal health coverage. Sustainability as a concept in ingrained in global development and therefore FIP aims to fully engage all its constituencies and support delivery of concrete actions across them in this important area.
More information can be found here.