Inside Tomorrow's Pharmacist (2003)

Home > Students > Tomorrow's Pharmacist >
BPSA go mad in Budapest

BPSA go mad in Budapest by Andy Christopherson

So what's IPSF all about then? Well the IPSF is the International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation, which represents and brings together pharmacy students from all over the world. The congress is held each year during the summer and is the highlight of the IPSF calendar, it really does attract delegates from all corners of the globe — South Africa to Peru, Japan to Australia, Sweden to Taiwan.

This year, the 48th annual congress was held in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest and lasted for ten days of hard work, hard partying and plenty of goulash!

So imagine the scene, the river Danube, St Stephen's Basilica, the Chain Bridge and 200 pharmacy students from 40 different countries. Budapest is one of the largest cities in central Europe and certainly one of the liveliest. As paprika overdose threatened to overwhelm the conference, six British delegates were ready for nearly two weeks of serious business and serious partying.

During the day, most of the time was taken up by congress business which takes the form of the general assembly. This consisted of debating and voting on a variety of issues from simple internal matters to considering IPSF policy on topical issues such as the structure of the pharmacy undergraduate course on a world-wide basis, the promotion of anti-smoking and AIDS awareness campaigns, women's health and pharmacy professional awareness. Other features included a scientific symposium and education forum on topics as diverse as counterfeit medicines and the role of pharmacy students as educators. Guest speakers from around the world attended to make these events truly global.

Of course, the IPSF congress is not all about working. Congresses are known for their social side as well. So what really happened at congress? Well, the hard working delegates needed to let their hair down each evening. Groovy nights included the infamous international evening. Here delegates took it in turn to show the rest of the world what they had to offer. Japan showed their magnificent traditional costumes, the Portuguese sang songs, the Dutch played drinking games whilst the British got up to do the very popular BPSA rave (go GB!). Trying a beverage or a culinary sample from each country was a must as was trying to sing funny songs in Italian, playing party games in Afrikaans and then navigating the Hungarian transit system! Other social highlights included the night in the Turkish baths, the feast in the labyrinth under Buda castle and the beer and pizza gala ball!

You cannot help making friends in this sort of atmosphere and those friendships were reinforced for the 30 or so delegates who went on the post-congress tour. Here a week was spent touring around western Hungary and the neighbouring country of Slovenia.

So thanks to everyone who made the congress such a success and to the generous sponsors for backing IPSF Congress 2002 to make it one never to forget.

IPSF is fantastic and through BPSA you can find out for yourself. Get involved and you will never look back. See you in Singapore for next year's congress! j

For more information on IPSF or other international activities though the BPSA, check out the IPSF website at www.ipsf.org or the BPSA website at www.bpsa.com