Latest News:
23 September 2024: World Pharmacists Day: Statement from WPC “Pharmacists: Meeting global health needs”
31 May 2024: Communique - WPC Annual Conference (Pharmintercom), Lisbon, 28-31 May 2024
30 January 2024: WPC welcomes the National Pharmacy Association of Canada
29 January 2024: Position Statement: Medicine Shortages
24 November 2023: WPC Sector Analysis 2023 Report released (public version available online)
29 September 2023: Position Statement: Community pharmacy is key to more resilient healthcare systems
7 June 2023: Communique - WPC Annual Conference (Pharmintercom), New York, 23-27 May 2023
30 January 2023: World Pharmacy Council publishes report and development guide supporting Vaccination Services in Community Pharmacy
25 November 2022: WPC Sector Analysis 2022 Report released (public version available online)
21 September 2022: World Pharmacists Day 2022: 'Pharmacists united in action for a healthier world'
17 September 2022: World Patient Safety Day: Statement from WPC
2 June 2022: Communique - WPC Annual Conference, Paris, 20-22 May 2022
22 October 2021: 2021 WPC Sector Analysis Report released (public version available online)
21 June 2021: Doug Hoey elected as President of the WPC
Welcome to the World Pharmacy Council
Welcome to the World Pharmacy Council
Welcome to the World Pharmacy Council, established in 2017 by community pharmacy organisations in seven countries (Pharmintercom) that have met annually since 1987 to share information and discuss the role, opportunities and issues affecting community pharmacy. The World Pharmacy Council is an Associate Expert Group member of Business at OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
Community pharmacies play a great but frequently unrecognised and unquantified role in healthcare systems. They provide care and advice for a range of health issues. From wound care and minor sprains, to pain and infections, pharmacies offer care and advice from infancy throughout life. A core role for pharmacies is to supply prescribed medications with the right information and guidance to help ensure proper use and efficacy. For many people with health problems, their relationship with a community pharmacy team is an important part of their support network.
These pharmacy core services are vital components of health systems, contributing to managing demand for physician or hospital resources. They are supplemented in some countries by greater use of the clinical skills of community pharmacists, who can adjust or even initiate prescribed medication therapy, sometimes as part of medicines management services.
The growth of online retailing is challenging traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ trading models including community pharmacies. In most countries fees paid for dispensing provide the funding to support provision of advice and support that is not directly remunerated.
Health costs are rising and increasingly governments focus on use of new technologies to change traditional models of care. Community pharmacy must be part of the debates, in individual countries and internationally, to develop recognition of its place in the provision of health care today, and to contribute to dialogue about the future: how pharmacies can be an integral part of innovative systems.
The mission of the World Pharmacy Council is to build international recognition of community pharmacy, its role, policies and value, and to influence, promote and secure acceptance of community pharmacy as an important and integral part of health systems.
Our Mission
By 2025 the World Pharmacy Council is established and acknowledged as an informed and respected data driven expert on the actual and potential role of community pharmacy in patient care and public health, advocating for using the full scope of practice of community pharmacists as part of integrated care of patients with acute or chronic conditions, and as providers of public health services, in line with the recommendations of organizations such as the OECD.
Our Vision
Strategic Pillars
Our Principles
The World Pharmacy Council was established in 1987 as Pharmintercom and the seven founder member countries met annually, exchanging news of developments, data and experience. As no multi-national organisation had been devoted to representing and promoting the value of community pharmacies in health care systems, the Pharmintercom members recognised the need for community pharmacy to have a voice to influence health policy internationally, and expand its membership beyond the seven countries. It agreed to establish the World Pharmacy Council (WPC) at its 2016 meeting.
The aim of the World Pharmacy Council is to speak for community pharmacy internationally; we encourage you to explore this website and contact the organisation via the contact form below.
To be a voice for community pharmacy internationally, the Council has secured a voice and recognition in the Business at OECD, the voice of Business in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This intergovernmental organisation comprises 36 member countries, with a mission to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
OECD has a Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC). Its website explains: “Being part of BIAC allows members access to meetings, global fora, and other consultations with OECD leadership, senior government officials, committees and related working groups”. From 2019 the Council has been a member of the BIAC Associate Expert Group on Health.
History
The Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists is the umbrella organisation of more than 60,000 pharmacists in Germany.
The General Council of Spanish Pharmacists represents the pharmacy profession at the national and international level.
Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmaceuticos España
PLEASE NOTE BEFORE COMPLETING THIS FORM:
If you are an individual, please note that membership of the World Pharmacy Council is not available to individuals. The Council’s full members are community pharmacy representative organisations, and application for affiliate membership is open only to companies and other organisations that have an interest in the field of community pharmacy.
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