A tool for pharmacy organisations to gauge progression of the pharmacy profession’s place in primary healthcare (PHC) has been developed by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).
The Federation launched this new resource on the sixth anniversary of the Declaration of Astana, which was signed at the Global Conference on Primary Health Care in 2018.
“The purpose of the Astana Declaration was to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage by strengthening PHC, and FIP was among the organisations present at the congress pledging commitment to it. We believe that stronger PHC requires wider roles for pharmacists and extension of pharmacy services. Since our commitment, FIP has supported PHC progress with many resources, of which this tool is the latest,” said Dr Catherine Duggan, CEO, FIP.
The FIP PHC tool consists of 27 indicators selected by mapping indicators developed for the FIP Development Goals against the Operational Framework on Primary Health Care produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
These PHC indicators are presented in a questionnaire that national pharmacy organisations can use to self-assess PHC status in their nation. They include:
- Having an advanced and integrated people-centred care strategy as the core of primary care and public health services;
- Having national guidelines or policies concerning access to medicines, pharmaceutical services and medical devices, including specialty medicines, and contingency plans for shortages of medicines and medical devices;
- Having an accessible digital infrastructure to enable healthcare delivery, for example, telemedicine, online health consultations, e-prescriptions, e-patient records.
On completion of the questionnaire, the organisation receives a PHC progress score and recommendations of FIP PHC-related resources.
“We encourage our member organisations to use this tool to assess policy, practice and progress in their countries, so that we can continue to encourage advancement of our profession in this important area. Stronger PHC will underpin and support universal health coverage and we are convinced that strengthening our profession’s role in PHC will contribute enormously to this shared endeavour.
We agree with the WHO point of view that countries that actively monitor the progress of PHC are better positioned to build health systems that effectively meet the needs of their populations. Assessing PHC progress is crucial for identifying gaps and addressing unmet needs, both locally and globally, from the perspective of pharmacy,” Dr Duggan said.
