Help CPA highlight the Role of Pharmacists in Pandemic Preparedness
Pharmacists often play a crucial role in pandemic and epidemic preparedness, but this role is too often overlooked. Find out below how your national pharmacy association can help us highlight the importance of pharmacy professionals in this vital area.
by Grace Grange, Research Officer
As we combat pandemics, the importance of prevention, preparedness and collaboration is often understated. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the millions of fatalities it caused, exposed how ill-prepared the global health system is to deal with and respond to the threat of pandemics, with low-income and vulnerable communities being disproportionately affected.
Factors including climate change, conflict and displacement are affecting the epidemiology of existing diseases and facilitating the emergence of new ones which, when coupled with population growth, ageing and antimicrobial resistance, are putting increased pressure on the global ecosystem, meaning we are likely to see more pathogens becoming threats to human life. Countries must prioritise pandemic preparedness and invest in building resilient health systems to be able to operate and respond effectively to future global crises.
Pharmacists are well placed to play a vital role in pandemic awareness, preparedness and response as they are embedded into the hearts of communities and provide essential front-line healthcare services with unique capabilities to support public health across a range of settings. Their contribution to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the valuable support they offer in an emergency health situation from managing drug supplies, delivering testing and vaccination programmes, providing community support and education, as well as addressing misinformation.
Keep reading to learn more about the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association’s (CPA) existing work in this area, and how you can support us as we seek to further highlight the role pharmacists play in this vital area.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CPA worked with National Pharmacy Associations (NPAs) within the Commonwealth to collate and highlight examples of innovation and best practice in pharmacy professionals’ and healthcare systems’ responses to the pandemic. For example:
- The Canadian Pharmacists Association successfully lobbied the government to increase the number of pharmacy locations for vaccinations to drive uptake.
- In Saint Lucia, the Pharmacy Council implemented COVID-19 Emergency Guidelines, empowering pharmacists to dispense a 30-day supply of essential medicines to patients where it was not possible to contact a physician, thus ensuring equitable access to medicines was sustained.
- The government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines increased the number of clinic pharmacy days in rural areas during the pandemic to support the pharmaceutical needs of the increased population after people relocated to reside in rural areas.
Pharmacy professionals are well-placed to play a key part in addressing these issues highlighted in the literature. There is a need to further understand, and develop recommendations to advocate for, pharmacists’ roles, such as their integration into country policy and strategy, including pandemic preparedness activities as well as increasing the capacity and capability of the pharmacy workforce.
There is a great opportunity to leverage the work led by pharmacists during COVID-19 to build health systems’ resilience for effective pandemic preparedness and response. Strengthening and further expanding the role of pharmacists as critical contributors to increasing public knowledge and awareness of the key challenges and how to address them; providing accurate and up-to-date information about disease, prevention, treatment and management; providing access to essential medicines and supplies, and; strengthening medicines’ manufacturing and supply chains.
Work with us
CPA is committed to improving the understanding of pharmacy professionals’ crucial work in pandemic preparedness and advocating for their recognition in this field. To do so, it is vital for us to continue working with NPAs on this important topic.
We are calling for you to share your views and experiences with us, and contribute to country-specific case studies as well as examples of best-practice and innovation.
This insight will facilitate a report, which will outline recommendations on how the pharmacy profession can further contribute to pandemic preparedness as well as how we can work collaboratively throughout the Commonwealth to strengthen and build resilience.
About the author
Grace Grange
Research Officer
Having started her career as a community pharmacist for three years, Grace then transitioned into public health, managing the Health Protection Programme for a Local Authority in the United Kingdom. In this role, she led on outbreak response (including COVID-19), improving immunisation uptake and sexual health, and addressing inequalities.
Grace works part-time for the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association in the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning team, where she has worked on a report for ‘Actionable Solutions to Tackle Workforce Challenges and the Climate Crisis’, as well as engaging with national pharmacy associations around their views on the pharmacist’s role in pandemic preparedness.