Student pharmacists from the United States have had a pronounced impact on IPSF over the years, and the organization has been an important part of APhA–ASP’s history.
By Allie Jo Shipman, PharmD
You hear the phrase “pharmacy is a small world” all the time in pharmacy school, but how small is that world, really?
The International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF) is the leading international advocacy organization for student pharmacists. Representing more than 350,000 student pharmacists and recent graduates in 90 countries worldwide, IPSF was founded in 1949 by eight member organizations from Europe and Australia, making it the oldest faculty-based, student-led organization in the world. IPSF’s aim is to promote improved public health through the provision of information, education, networking opportunities, and a range of publications and professional initiatives. It serves as the only representation of student pharmacists at the United Nations and World Health Organization.
APhA–ASP has been a member organization of IPSF for decades, and the student pharmacists from the United States have had a pronounced impact on IPSF over the years.
Vast programming opportunities
Two of IPSF’s largest professional development projects—the Patient Counseling Event and the Clinical Skills Event—were first developed and implemented in the United States, the former in 1989 at the IPSF World Congress in Philadelphia, and the latter 10 years later. In 2002, the Pan American Regional Office (PARO) was established to unify the Americas in IPSF’s vision, and the first Pan American Regional Symposium was hosted in Fort Lauderdale, FL, that same year. And, after PARO had been inactive for a few years due to unfortunate circumstances, it was five APhA–ASP members who brought it back in 2011.
IPSF has afforded numerous opportunities to thousands of APhA–ASP members over the years. One notable example of this is the IPSF Student Exchange Program (SEP). SEP is IPSF’s largest and oldest project and has been running continuously since 1953. The purpose of SEP is to allow student pharmacists the opportunity to experience pharmacy practice in another country, and participating in this program has benefited hundreds of APhA–ASP members over the years. In the past six years alone, more than 300 APhA–ASP student pharmacist members have had the opportunity to travel the globe to experience pharmacy practice in a variety of settings and cultures.
One of the most influential IPSF projects APhA–ASP has participated in was the Neema Project in Tanzania, which began in 1995. The Neema Project set up a dispensary that also provided additional primary health care services to the underserved people living in the nearby Kiromo, Buma, and Mataya villages in Tanzania. The dispensary was staffed by volunteer student pharmacists and new practitioners on 3- to 6-month rotations and was fully funded by fundraisers held by IPSF member organizations. In 1998, a Neema Coordinating Group was formed, and APhA–ASP was one of the four original member organizations that served on the committee. The project was run by IPSF until 2004, when its operation was turned over to the Tanzanian government. It is still considered one of the most popular and successful initiatives of IPSF.
The memorable benefits
IPSF has provided far more to APhA–ASP members than public health initiatives and travel opportunities over the years, including its pharmacy education portfolio, multiple newsletters, and policy events—IPSF sends a delegation of student pharmacist members to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, every year to debate and discuss global health policy.
Then there is the value for APhA–ASP members that comes from developing cultural competence through experiences and friendships. The value is in remembering the treatment options for an infectious disease on a test, not because you studied for hours, but because you talked to a peer from a country struggling to find supply chain solutions for those treatments. The value is in snapping your Canadian friend a picture of the poutine you are eating at a new restaurant in town and getting Merry Christmas texts a day early because of time zone differences and receiving a Happy New Year card from a friend in South Korea in February.
The real value of IPSF is in the people you meet and the connections you make, and in discovering that the pharmacy world isn’t quite as small as you thought after all. That is why IPSF has been such an important part of APhA–ASP’s history, and why the partnership is so revered.