A former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharm. (Sir) Anthony Akhimien, has been conferred with the Fellowship of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) at the ongoing 82nd Annual World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Cape Town, South Africa.
With this award, Akhimien becomes the third Nigerian pharmacist to receive the honour, with the first being another former PSN President in the person of Pharm. Azuibike Okwor, and Pharm. Sola Solarin, CEO Savante Consulting as the second in Nigeria.
Other nine recipients of the Fellowship in Cape Town are: Dr Abdikarim Abdi (Turkey); Mr Daragh Connolly (Ireland); Dr Sarah Dineen-Griffin (Australia); Dr Stephen Eckel (USA); Dr Prosper Hiag (Cameroon); Ms Eiko Kobayashi (Japan); Dr Rajatheran (Sham) Moodley (South Africa); Prof. Melody Ryan (USA); Dr Tanniru Venkata Narayana (India).
The 82nd World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, which commenced on 1 September, with the theme “Innovating for the future of health care”, and attended by 3,300 pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacy educators from 96 countries, also announced other awards at the opening ceremony.
In a press statement sent to pharmanewsonline, it was disclosed that Rural Schools of Health, won the 2024 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Health Promotion Campaign Award for the General Pharmaceutical Council of Spain (CGCOF). Rural Schools of Health is made up of community pharmacists in populations of fewer than 5,000.
According to the statement, the pharmacy initiative, led by the CGCOF and funded by Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, was piloted in Castilla y Leon (home to 32% of Spain’s rural pharmacies) in collaboration with the region’s pharmaceutical council and provincial pharmacy chambers. 109 pharmacies were selected to take part and their pharmacists were provided with training by the CGCOF. The pharmacists provided up to five health education sessions in their municipalities, covering topics aimed at different groups of people. For example, a session aimed at older people focused on prevention of functional decline, and a session aimed at adolescents covered sexual health and prevention of smoking and alcohol misuse.
“This initiative not only proved that community pharmacists are capable of delivering important health education in communities, but that they also have a valuable role in strengthening the economic, social and territorial cohesions of rural areas facing risks of depopulation. Pharmacy has a clear place in the provision of socio-health care, and especially rural pharmacies, which are an essential health infrastructure,” said Mr Jesus Aguilar, president CGOF.
He added: “Saving our towns involves saving their pharmacies, the nearest, most accessible and, in some cases the single health resource; without an appointment and without waiting lists. Many other essential services have left. But the green cross of the pharmacy is still there, at the service of all citizens. We thank FIP for recognition of this important work in Spain.”
The opening ceremony of the congress also witnessed the conferment of Honorary President of FIP on the Swiss pharmacist, Dr Michel Buchmann He was FIP president from 2010 to 2014 and, before that, president of FIP’s Community Pharmacy Section. As FIP president, he led four successful world congresses, including the Federation’s 2012 Centennial Congress which saw FIP’s first high-level stakeholder round tables and a Ministers of Health Summit in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Netherlands.
“Michel Buchmann’s presidency enabled the bringing together of evolving initiatives in education under one banner, which was FIP Education, the gathering of resources needed to hold the FIP Global Conference on Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Education in Nanjing, China, in 2016, and the opening of a debate on the reform of FIP’s statutes in order to integrate FIP Education as a third structural element of FIP.
“During his presidential term, he oversaw the development of a Centennial Declaration by the FIP Council, highlighting strong commitment from our profession to improve global health through the development and distribution of medicines and through the provision of services that support responsible use of medicines. I am pleased that the FIP Bureau and Council have recognised his exceptional service to our federation. He joins only five others as an honorary president of FIP,” said FIP president Mr Paul Sinclair.
The FIP’s Høst Madsen Medal Award, went to Vinod P. Shah, from the USA, in recognition of his contributions to the field of pharmaceutical science and regulatory research and their impact on policy and practice. His work includes: establishing the scientific basis for the Biopharmaceutics Classification System for immediate release solid dosage forms and developing the classification system for topical drug products; developing a dissolution methodology for sparingly water-soluble drug products using a surfactant, which has been adopted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Pharmacopeia; creating a procedure for comparing dissolution profiles by using similarity factor f2, which has been adopted globally by all regulatory agencies for dissolution profile comparison; and developing in vitro release methodology for semisolid dosage forms, now used in US FDA guidance.
Dr Shah currently works as a pharmaceutical consultant. He is a founder and chairman of the Society of Pharmaceutical Dissolution Science (SPDS) International, and a past scientific secretary of FIP. During his tenure as FIP scientific secretary, he developed and delivered two strategic plans for the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences, which included the current special interest group structure that encompasses all aspects of pharmaceutical sciences.
 Anthony Akhimien, has been conferred with the Fellowship of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) at the ongoing){kind=link}
Best of luck to the Winner
Nsikan Uko Sunday