The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7453 p599
26 May 2007

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Pharmacists can tackle health inequalities

Community pharmacists have a crucial role to play in reducing health inequalities, Ivana Silva, head of pharmaceuticals and professional affairs at the Pharmaceutical Group of the EU, said at the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy conference in Edinburgh last week.

“Community pharmacists play a central role in active health promotion and the traditional pharmacy model ensures equality of access,” she said. “Any government serious about reducing health inequality cannot afford to ignore the community pharmacist.”

However, she stressed that pharmacists will also need to continue to advance their roles individually, so that they are ready to help patients and members of the public contribute to their own well-being and quality of life.

“Pharmacists need to continue to be proactive and dynamic, to keep abreast of developments, to strengthen their competencies … and to demonstrate the added value of their community pharmacy practice to individual patients and society, to the health system, to the national economy and to EU welfare,” she said.


Meetings p615