adminWilfred T Gurupira MPH, MPS, PSZ President
The Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe PSZ will be holding its annual conference from 6-9th October 2016 at Wild Geese Lodge in Harare.
The theme of the conference is “The Pharmacists’ challenge: Reducing disease burden in Zimbabwe.”
Pharmacists play a key role in the provision of health care and, as specialists in medicines, are the chief custodians of medicines. Medicines are recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the building blocks of effective health systems, and their supply and rational use can contribute to the reduction in disease burden.
The theme “The Pharmacists’ challenge: Reducing disease burden in Zimbabwe” is well placed to prompt the Zimbabwean pharmacists to re-define and re-think health issues and health service delivery in Zimbabwe.
The ultimate goal of the conference is to work out how pharmacists can make a positive and lasting contribution to the improvement of health.
The conference will look at issues related to the entire pharmaceutical chain, the pharmaceutical industry and will be officiated by the Honourable Minister of Industry and Trade.
Feature presentations will be from the WHO representative to Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Health and Child Care. Issues to be discussed include the current burden and pattern of disease, how the scope of practice of the pharmacist can be increased to improve patient outcomes, how local pharmaceutical manufacturing can be improved in line with Government policy, drug pricing models in the pharmaceutical sector and the effect of drug prices on the availability of medicines.
The conference will also elaborate on issues that the PSZ is doing, and will do, that can directly and indirectly reduce disease burden. A special feature of this year’s conference is the presence of the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe to represent the views of consumers and partner organisation to talk about their work.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe was formed in 1898 with the following objectives.
Promoting the work and obligations of the profession.
Encouraging goodwill among Pharmacists and members of allied professions.
Setting standards of practice and subscribing to an ethical code.
Broadening and increasing knowledge of the art and science of Pharmacy both within and outside the profession.
Over the years the Society has managed to bring together pharmacists from manufacturing, distribution and logistics, hospital, retail, academia and regulatory faculties and has grown from strength to strength in becoming the official organisation which brings out the collective voice of the pharmacist amongst different stakeholders including the Ministry of Health and the government at large.
This year, the Conference brings together 200 local pharmacists and various pharmacists from the region including pharmacists from Botswana, and Zambia. In addition to deliberations, on Sunday 9 October the PSZ, in collaboration with various partners, will be hosting an inaugural fund-raising fun run/walk starting at 6AM under the theme: “Run against drug abuse”.
This project will be to raise funds for the PSZ programme: Pharmacists against drug abuse. The intention is to have this fun run/walk as an annual event with more runners and people participating.
Online Reporter