FIP and the World Health Organization: 2008-2009

Introduction by FIP CEO and General Secretary, Mr A.J.M Hoek

As the global Federation representing the world's pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, the concept of Health-for-All is an inherent value within the functioning of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). Through our ongoing internal projects and initiatives and those in collaboration with our partner organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), FIP had been actively advocating for better health through the advancement of pharmacy practice and the pharmaceutical sciences in previous years and particularly in 2008.

With a new FIP office established in Geneva, Switzerland from April 2008, the Federation aims to continually raise and fulfill expectations amongst pharmacists and engage all partners - including patients - in promoting good health on an engaging, comprehensive and global level.

This report highlights the key milestones and achievements of the collaboration between the Federation and the WHO from 2008 to April 2009.

Strengthening Pharmaceutical Workforce

The goal of this programme is to document and analyse pharmacy workforce trends and to develop guidance for FIP member organisations and other stakeholders on how to address challenges in pharmacy workforce development to support access to and rational use of medicines.
Joint FIP/WHO activities:

FIP has progressively increased its collaborations with the WHO Human Resources Department since the WHO World Health Report 2006 and toolkit. Our contributions in Human Resources for Health included:

  • Formation of a FIP-WHO Pharmacy Education Taskforce. A committee had been established with experts in the field along with representation from WHO. A two year action plan had been developed following the 2006 roundtable consultation which had been formally approved by both FIP and WHO. Funding is being sought to implement the plan.
  • FIP had joined the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). A representative of the FIP-WHO Pharmacy Education Taskforce was invited to join the technical group on scaling up training and education.
  • FIP-WHO Pharmacy Education Taskforce organised the third round table for Pharmacy Education at the 68th FIP Congress in September 2008.

FIP led the launch of the Global Tripartite Education Action Plan 2008-2010 with WHO and UNESCO at a joint session held at the Global Health Workforce Alliance Forum for Human Resources for Health in Kampala, Uganda, 6 March 2008.

The Action Plan focuses on addressing bottleneck issues in pharmacy education such as academic and institutional capacity, quality assurance, vision and competency. The joint effort of these organizations facilitates a more effective, efficient and concrete approach as well as enabling a multi-sectoral platform for dialogue, learning and sharing of evidence and experience at global, regional and local levels.

FIP had been working together with WHO and the World Federation of Medication Education to establish a database of health training institutions, including pharmacy schools in 2008. FIP is a formal partner in this initiative and is on the Advisory board. The FIP Academic Section is working together with the WHO Human Resources Department and WFME on this project. FIP has initiated a process of updating its World List of Pharmacy School database since Feb 2007.

FIP and our collaborating centre, together with support from the WHO will be launching a new global academic journal on Pharmacy Education in 2009.

Medicines

The overall goal of the programme is to enable better access to and rational use of safe, cost-effective, quality medicines worldwide by improving global cooperation, participation and coordination of medicines related initiatives.

Joint FIP/WHO activities:
Since the inception of WHO International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) in Rome, February 2006. On behalf of the WHPA, FIP has taken a lead role in the WG Communications in IMPACT and will be driving forth the risk communications strategy for counterfeit medicines globally. The Federation is currently working on 12 key technical products in the WHO Taskforce

FIP co-organised the FIP/IMPACT meeting on using technology to combat counterfeit medicines in Singapore, February 2008. This meeting brought together drug regulatory authorities and technology developers from about 40 countries. FIP is currently hosting www.impactglobalforum for communications on IMPACT activities. FIP will continue to support WHO in its initiatives to combat counterfeit medical products.

During the World Health Assembly 2008, FIP organised a NGO briefing on counterfeit medical products with the WHO IMPACT. This briefing was focusing on the role of governments, NGOs and international organizations.

With an objective to engage constructively engage the Geneva-based diplomatic Missions and the most relevant NGOs and Civil Society groups in strengthening political commitments so as to raise awareness about the public health risks of counterfeiting, and to bring about unified international actions to combat counterfeit medical products, FIP is leading the development of a World Health Professionals Alliance (WHPA) joint position statement on combating counterfeit medical products. FIP will also be working closely with the WHO in engaging open discussions with the diplomatic Missions based on Geneva and the most relevant NGOs in April/May 2009 and onwards.

FIP was invited to support the first WHO Congress on Traditional Medicines in November 2008 and to organise a joint symposium on traditional medicines with the World Self Medication Industry. This activity has increased visibility of FIP in the realm of traditional medicines and the role of pharmacists in self-care.

WHO revised the WHO Guide on Multisource (Generic) Pharmaceutical Products: Guidelines on registration requirements to establish interchangeability. A FIP/WHO Biopharmaceuticals Classification System (BCS) Task Force had been established and the FIP Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences will continue to be instrumental in the revision process of these guidelines.

FIP and WHO had published the WHO/FIP Developing Pharmacy Practice: a Focus on Patient Care, Booklet 2006 Edition. This manual served as a tool and a guide for pharmacy training, both in industrialized and resource-constrained countries. A process of field testing had been initiated and will be continuous through 2008 and beyond. FIP had also been actively promoting the publication in its Boards. This resource had been translated into French, Spanish, and Russian in 2008. Currently, FIP is working with partners on further translation into Chinese, Italian and other languages.

FIP organised the first meeting of the FIP Experts Group on Standards for Quality of Pharmacy Services in Basel, Switzerland during its 68th Congress. The meeting had 50 participants in total, including the FIP Working Group on Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP), WHO staff from HQ, Eastern Mediterranean regional office and WHO country medicines advisors from Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania, Presidents/Secretaries of the 6 FIP regional pharmaceutical forums, invited experts from Management Sciences for Health (MSH), Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) and FIP Member Organisations.

FIP attended the WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations meeting in Geneva from 13 to 17 October 2008. The purpose of this meeting for FIP was to initiate discussions and plans on the revision of the 1993 FIP/WHO guidelines on quality of pharmacy services in the community and hospital settings. It is anticipated that the guidelines will be updated by 2010.

FIP were invited by WHO to author the Chapter on Human Resources in the pharmaceutical sector in the WHO World Medicines Situation Report 2010. This publication provides a review of the medicine situation in the world.

A representative from FIP was selected to attend the WHO Technical Briefing Seminar on quality assurance and safety of medicines in September 2008. This meeting was organised to advance collaboration between WHO and stakeholders from governmental and non-governmental organisations such as FIP engaged in promoting the quality and safety of medicines in the global community with the aim of increasing awareness and knowledge of quality assurance and safety of medicines, blood products and related biological with a special focus on WHO standard setting processes.

FIP was invited to comment on the Third WHO Medicines Strategy within WHO Medium Term Strategic Plan for 2008-2013. Our response was made in the context of the FIP 2020 Vision, The Vision, Mission, and Strategic Plan, approved unanimously by the FIP Council on September 4, 2008 at in 68th Congress in Basel, Switzerland. FIP continues to support the WHO Medicines Strategy, including providing expertise in review of WHO guidelines, participation in Expert Committees or development of any resources relevant to essential medicines and pharmaceutical policy.

FIP was invited to the first WHO International Classification of Diseases Stakeholders meeting in May 2008. This was a meeting of key stakeholders who are interested and would like to participate in the revision of the WHO ICD-11. The ICD is the international standard diagnostic classification for all general epidemiological and many health management purposes. These include the analysis of the general health situation of population groups and monitoring of the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems in relation to other variables such as the characteristics and circumstances of the individuals affected.

Patient Safety

The overall goal of the programme is to focus on the contribution of pharmacists to improve patient safety. FIP aims to be a pro-active partner of the WHO Alliance on Patient Safety in its global initiatives, including involvement with the Global Challenges, Small Research Grant Programme, Patient Safety Solutions, Patients for Patient Safety, and African Partnerships for Patient Safety and where medication safety and patient safety is important.

Joint FIP/WHO activities:

FIP was invited to participate in a communications review meeting of the World Alliance on Patient Safety. Updates were received on the first and second Global Patient Safety Challenge, on Clean Care is Safer Care and Safe Surgery. The next patient safety challenge will focus on antimicrobial resistance in 2009-2011. FIP and WHO is currently working intensively to organize a joint symposium on antimicrobial resistance in the 69th FIP Congress in Istanbul, Turkey.

FIP successfully received funding for its submission of a patient safety project on "Implementation and testing of culture-specific pharmaceutical pictograms for the labelling of medications in Mexico" by the World Alliance on Patient Safety Small Research Grant programme in 2008/2009. This project is an initiative of the FIP Military and Emergency Pharmacy Section.

FIP had initiated discussions with the WHO African Partnerships for Patient Safety on potential opportunities to strengthen our activities and collaborations on the following areas:

  • Input into the WHO hospital situational analysis tool on hospital pharmacy processes. FIP will contribute by designing and defining key questions for the checklist on hospital pharmacy, based on the 6 themes of the Basel Consensus Statements. This will be one of the ways of monitoring the implementation of the Basel Statements and its evaluation in real practice.
  • Develop patient safety tools and advocacy materials on medication use and medication safety issues
  • Engage national pharmacy associations in African with the activities of the Partnership, especially in regards to the need to establish culturally accepted levels of hospital pharmacy practice standards in the beginning, leading to wider patient safety roles of pharmacists in the health system

Non-Communicable Diseases

The overall goal of the programme is to support and promote pharmacists' interventions in the prevention and control of non communicable diseases (inter alia, tobacco cessation and HIV/AIDS. FIP aims to be a pro-active partner in supporting the WHO Global Strategy on Prevention and Control of Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, where appropriate, to give input into the implementation of the Global strategy by identifying the specific areas where FIP could contribute or collaborate with WHO.

Joint FIP/WHO activities:

As a pro-active partner to the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Cessation (FCTC), with a specific focus on supporting the implementation of Article 14: Demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation, FIP continued to be active in promoting the "Global Network of Pharmacists against Tobacco". The Network was established in order to facilitate collaboration between regional pharmaceutical forums, professional pharmaceutical associations and individual pharmacists in the area of smoking cessation and anti-tobacco activities. The website: www.pharmacistsagainsttobacco.org had been updated regularly.

FIP was invited to the WHO/World Economic Forum Global Consultation on Tobacco Treatment in December 2008. A global public private partnership will be developed as an informal type of consortium of relevant public and private stakeholders.

As an observer to the WHO FCTC, FIP participated in a meeting of NGOs in January 2009. The consultative meeting covered the areas of cooperation that will advance implementation of the Convention and the decisions of the Conference of the Parties. FIP will continue to working closely with the FCTC secretariat and WHO TFI on establishing mechanisms and resources for strengthening international cooperation and coordination for implementation of the Convention

FIP remained in close communication with the WHO HIV/AIDS Department. FIP was invited to the 9th Technical consultation on WHO global recommendations on task shifting, with special regards to the HIV/AIDS situation. Appropriate interventions were delivered by FIP. Subsequently, FIP was invited as a partner in the Addis Abba launch of these recommendations in January 2008.

On activities relating to health promotion, FIP was nominated to be a board member of the WHO NGO Alliance on Health Promotion in 2008. The mission of this Alliance is to improve the health and development of all people by generating and sharing knowledge for building a collective NGO voice and to strengthen advocacy, policy and action in the promotion of health. FIP will continue to actively supporting its initiatives including preparations for the lead up activities to the 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion in October 2009.

Other notable collaborations

FIP is an official Partner of the WHO Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child health (PMNCH) and was represented in the Workshop on health care professional associations and their role in reaching the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in November 2008 at Dhaka, Bangladesh. FIP continues to advocate a role of the pharmacist in maternal, newborn and child health care.

FIP released a Press Release on 7th April, World Health Day 2008, emphasising on the value of pharmacists in primary health care. Additional resources were sent to all FIP Member Organisations to support and highlight the added value of pharmacists in the four different areas of reforms in improving primary health care. FIP will continue to support the WHO call for primary health care systems.

FIP was invited to attend the resumed second session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on public health, innovation and intellectual property at CICG Geneva, 28th April to 3rd May 2008.

Several representatives from WHO attended the 68th World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Basel, Switzerland, as participants and/or speakers.

FIP delivered expertise and input in the following WHO documents:

  • WHO proposal for revision of Good Distribution Practices for pharmaceutical products (QAS/08.252)
  • WHO Guideline to the inspection of hormone product manufacturing facilities (QAS/08.256)
  • WHO document on the development of paediatric medicines: pharmaceutical development (QAS/08.257)
  • WHO document on procedure for prequalification of medicinal products (QAS/07.248/Rev.1)
  • WHO document on stability testing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished pharmaceutical products (QAS/06.179/Rev.3)
  • WHO guideline on transfer of technology (QAS/08.259)
  • WHO recommendations for improvement of the WHO certification scheme on the quality of pharmaceutical products moving in international commerce (QAS/08.279)
  • The following revised proposals for the International Pharmacopoeia
    - Quinine sulfate tablets (QAS /07.219/Rev.1)
    - Chloroquine sulfate oral solution (QAS /07.216/Rev.1)
    - Mebendazole (QAS /08.272/Rev.1)
    - Chewable mebendazole tablets (QAS /07.245/Rev.1)
    - Oseltamivir phosphate (QAS /06.190/Rev.2)
    - Amodiaquine hydrochloride tablets (QAS /07.223/Rev.2)
    - Efavirenz oral solution (QAS /08.280)
    - Nevirapine oral suspension (QAS /07.200/Rev.1)
    - Nevirapine tablets (QAS /07.201/Rev.1)
    - Chloroquine (QAS /08.289)
    - WHO report of the informal expert meeting on dosage forms of medicines for children


We would also like to take the opportunity to thank Dr Sabine Kopp from WHO for her resolute support to our sustained collaborations.