InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation

NewsBulletin|2010

DearIPSFersandfriendsofPharmacy,

I'mMohamedSultan,fromthebeautifulcityofAlexandria,whichisonthe
northcostofEgypt.MyIPSFexperiencestartedbackin2007,whenIdidmy
Student Exchange Program in Budapest, Hungary. In 2008, in ClujNapoca,
RomaniaIgotelectedasChairpersonofPublicRelations.DuringthisyearI
hadthehonourtobethefirstEgyptiantoservetheFederationasPresident.

Through this News Bulletin it will be my great pleasure to inform you of
IPSFs’ achievements this year as the Federation has been moving from success to success and
challengetochallengethroughoutthelastfewyears.

Intermsofinternationalcollaboration,IPSFhasmanagedtorenewitsrelationswithWorldHealth
Organization (WHO) during the WHO 126TH session of Executive Board meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland in January 2010. In addition, IPSF has had a couple of new developments with other
International relations. Through strengthening IPSF relations with International partner
organizations, starting with participating in the UNESCO International Youth Forum in Paris in
October 2009 and through cooperation with other nongovernmental organizations’ (NGO), IPSF
has set the stage for future years of great collaboration and work with these exemplary
organizations.

The3rdWorldHealthcareStudents’Symposium(WHSS)washeldinNovemberin2009inAlexandria,
EgyptandIPSFtookresponsibilityasjointorganizersalongwithEuropeanPharmaceuticalStudents’
Association(EPSA),InternationalFederationofMedicalStudent’Association(IFMSA)andEuropean
MedicalStudents'Association(EMSA).Theaimofthesymposiumwastodiscusstheimportanceof
effective cooperation between different professions in health care professionals. Furthermore,
students representing IPSF supported the importance of the pharmacists’ contribution to a
healthcare system. In addition the discussion of possible cooperation of projects between the
differentstudentorganizationsintermsofpublichealthandhumanitarianactivitieswasaddressed.

A major IPSF event that was launched this year was IPSFs’ humanitarian project, The Mobile
Pharmacy in Northern Uganda Project (MPNUP). The project aimed to provide basic health care
services to Ugandan citizens in refugee camps in the Pader District. In addition Public health
campaignsonHygieneandSanitation,weweretriedtoprovidepeoplewithbasichealtheducation
to allow them to help themselves to prevent the spread of disease. Furthermore, IPSF provided
pharmacystudentsfromallovertheworldwiththeopportunitytoundertakehumanitarianworkin
Ugandaandgainedsomeimportantlifechangingexperience.

WithregardstoregionalactivitiesIPSFinitiatedastrongcooperationwithEuropeanPharmaceutical
Students' Association (EPSA), through the organization of IPSF Leaders in Training (LIT) Workshops
duringEPSAAutumnAssemblyinGenoa,ItalyinOctober2009.Inadditionseveraljointworkshops
inAntiCounterfeitproducts,HIV/AIDSandtuberculosis(TB)wereofferedtothedelegatesinorder
tosharethecollaborativeworkdonebythetwoassociationsontheseveryimportantpublichealth
issues.TheIPSFEasternMediterraneanRegionalOffice(EMRO)alsodeservesaspecialmentionas
hasrecentlylauncheditsfirstEastern MediterraneanPharmaceuticalSymposium(EMPS) fromthe


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

2ndto9thofJuly2010inAmman,Jordan.Itisthemed‘ADoseofChange’andwillbethefirstIPSF
symposiumtoaddressthechallengesofpharmacyprofessionthatarespecifictothatregion.

IPSF also has also taken big steps to restructure IPSF congresses in order to establish a quality
frameworkforallfutureIPSFcongresses.Thisiswiththeaimofimprovingthedataandworkshops
presented during the congresses to allow maximum member involvement.  In addition, full
evaluations for each congress and for each session have been enforced in order to produce a
sufficient and accurate summary for the congress in a Post congress booklet. In addition, this will
allow congresses to develop over the years in a way that they can benefit members to the fullest
extent.

Over the past few months IPSF has been working on rebuilding and reactivating its’ Pharmacy
Educationportfolio,startingwiththecreationofanewSubcommitteeforPharmacyEducationand
revivingIPSFMovingOn2Project.Thisisaquestionnairebasedprojectdesignedtoinvestigatethe
learningskillsofPharmacystudentsandisbeingconductedincooperationwithPharmacyEducation
TaskforcealongwithpreparingtheIPSFEducationalsupplement(IPSFPhuture).FurthermoreanIPSF
internationalEssaycompetitionwaslaunchedinApril2010…..

Lastbutnotleast,relationsbetweenFIPandIPSFhavebeenstrengthenedthroughIPSFinvolvement
intheorganizationoftheIPSF–FIPStudents'dayintheFIPCongressinLisbon,incooperationwith
thePharmacyEducationTaskforce.Itisthemed"LeadershipinPractice"andduringthisimportant
event,IPSFwillhaveitsownreception.IPSFhavealsocreatedspecialpageforFIPandespeciallythe
YoungPharmacistsGroup(YPG)onIPSFwebsiteinordertoshowtheconnectionbetweenIPSFand
FIPtopromoteFIPamongstyoungpharmacists.Furthermore,IPSFareworkingonarrangementsto
establishanIPSFFIPJointpublicationandEducationalsupplements.Inaddition,FIPwillbepresent
atIPSFAnnualCongressinLjubljana,SloveniainAugust2010.

WehopethattherewillbemoreprogressinthenextyearthatcantakeIPSFforwardintotheever
changingworldofpharmacy.Ialsohopethatthishaswhettedyourappetiteandhasgivenyousome
food for thought. I would like to say a warmhearted word of thanks to FIP for their continued
supportovertheyearsandwesincerelyhopetocontinuetostrengthencollaborationbetweenboth
federationsinthefuture.

VivalaPharmacie!

IPSF,wherestudentsmakethedifference!

MohamedSultan
IPSFPresident200910


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

DearIPSFers,

Mystartinpharmaceuticalstudents’associationwasin2001andmyfirstIPSF
involvement was during the world congress held in Cairo in 2001. Since that
I’ve been the contact person, SEO and vicetreasurer for ATEP (Tunisia) in
20012003.Afteracoupleofyearsofa“longdistancerelationship”withIPSF
world,Ijoinedtheexecutivecommitteein0809andithasbeenapleasureto
servethefederationasatreasurer.

AftergraduatingfrompharmacyschoolinMonastir,Tunisia,I’vestartedanMScinmanagementin
the School of Management of Lyon, France. So my involvement as a treasurer fits with my
background.

Thisyearhasbeenreallychallenging.Alotofprojectshavebeenimplemented,althoughtherewere
limitedincomesandhumanresourceissues.Allthemembersdeservebigthanks,whomhaveshown
theirgenerosityanddevotionwithdonationsandparticipations.

Besidestheprogressmadeinseveralprojects,themaingoalisstilltohavefinancialindependency
thatwillfacilitatetheexecutiveandthememberstousetheirenthusiasm,passionandenergyfor
thegoodofthefederation.

Today, IPSF and its members are facing constant challenges and it’s in your hands. Pharmacy
students from all around the world will drive our federation to constantly stay on the top and to
achieveprojects.

YoursinIPSF,

MehdiZeghal
VicePresidentandTreasurer200810

DearestIPSFers,

IamPedroLucas,a23yearoldrecentpharmacygraduatewhoishonoured
towriteyouastheIPSFSecretaryGeneral200910.

I started my journey in IPSF back in 2005, when I became CP of AEFFUL,
Lisbon,Portugal,andattendedmyfirstIPSFCongressinBonn,Germany.At
the Bonn Congress, everything looked astonishing marvellous and I got
easily contagious by the IPSF Spirit. I also attended the Taiwan Congress
2007, and the Bali Congress 2009. At every congress I gained friends for life and became a richer
person.

A long discussion could be generated about what bring us together in IPSF. For me, in a simple
sentence: it is the belief that pharmacists have an important role to play in society, and that
studentscanhelpdefinethisrole.ThisiswhyIthinkstudentscometogethereveryyearattheIPSF


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
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Congress,wewanttobebetterpharmacists,tohaveapositivecontributiontothehealthoutcomes
ofthesociety.

Thisvision,togetherwiththewillofpharmacystudentsallaroundtheworld,isreflectedintheIPSF
Team and Structure.  Some people have to be in the centre of this global network of pharmacy
studentsinordertoassurecommunication,communication,andcommunication.Onlybyassuring
communication can we aspire to discuss goals, cooperate in projects, and improve ourselves as
studentsandfuturepharmacists.

BeingpartofthisTeamandStructureisagreatprivilegeandabigresponsibility.Iwasprivilegedto
beappointedtotheSecretaryGeneralpositionandIrapidlyconnectedtotheExecutiveTeam.Itried
tofulfilallmyportfolioresponsibilities,andmorethanthatItriedtocontributetootheraspectsof
theTeamasmuchaspossible.

The 200910 was very rich in terms of brainstorming and was very sincere in terms of internal
thinkingoftheFederation.IhopetheExecutivecanclearlypassthismessagetoallofyouduringthe
Congress in Slovenia, but from my point of view the conclusion to all the discussion is simple:
pharmacystudentscangreatlybenefitfromdailyinternationalnetworkingandIPSFcanonlygrow
witheverystudents’efforts.

YoursinIPSF,

PedroLucas
SecretaryGeneral200910

Namaste(TheIndianwayofgreeting)IPSFers,

I am Murthy Chittoory from India. I graduated with a

Bachelors of Pharmacy from Bombay College of Pharmacy,
MumbaiinJune2009.IamcurrentlypursuingmyMastersin
PharmaceuticsattheNortheasternUniversity,Boston,USA.I
was infected by the IPSF virus in Nepal at IPSF APRO Asia
Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium back in 2007. It was
amazingtoseehowstudentpharmacistsfromallovertheworldcametogetherforaunifyingcause
undertheIPSFbanner.

IhavebeenworkingforIPASF(IndianPharmaceuticalAssociationStudents'Forum)forthelastfew
yearsandamcurrentlyImmediatePastChairperson.IthasalwaysbeenadreamsinceAPPS2007to
serve the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation. This year was my opportunity to do
thisaspartoftheIPSFexecutive.Wehavetakenmanynewinitiativesforthepharmacyeducation
portfolioincludingrevivaloftheMovingonII,establishingthePharmacyEducationSubcommittee
andworkingwithWHOonthepatientsafetycurriculumguidelines.

ItwasagreatexperiencetobepartoftheIPSFexecutiveandsharetheIPSFvision.

MurthyChittoory
ChairpersonofPharmacyEducation200910


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
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DearIPSFers,

I am Shirley Yeung, a 23 year old from the beautiful city of Vancouver, Canada.  I
graduated from The University of British Columbia last year and I got my license
shortly after. I just finished my hospital residency, so I am a clinical pharmacist;
however, I decided to work as an academic detailing pharmacist instead, where I
educategeneralpractitionersonvarioustreatmentguidelines.

My first exposure to IPSF was back in 2007, at the 53rd World Congress in Taipei,
Taiwan.  Ever since going to the congress and getting involved in the PCE, I was hooked to IPSF.
AfterwinningthebeginnerPCE,IwentontobecomethePCEcoordinatorthenextyearattheCluj
Napoca, Romania World Congress.  Afterwards, I noticed the need to bring back the Clinical Skills
Event(CSE)andwasthecoordinatorforthatthesubsequentyear.AlthoughIwasunabletoattend
theBalicongress,IassistedwiththeCSEworkshop.Andafterwards,IappliedfortheChairperson
for Professional Development and here I am, hoping to push the boundaries of our professional
skills.Ihopetosharemypharmacypassionandspiritwitheveryonearoundtheworld.

Since myappointmentin November2009,ourprofessionaldevelopment teamhavebeenworking

away at patient counselling events, clinical skills events, and leadersintraining programs and
compilingcampaignsforpharmacyprofessionalawareness.Ourgoalistohelpyou,asyoungand
futurepharmacists,tohaveallthenecessaryskillstobecomesuccessfulinnotonlypatientcare,but
also as leaders and inspirations to others.   We are critical members of the healthcare team and
whenwearethebestthatwe can be, we canmakedifferencesinourpatients’life.With that in
mind, I hope all of you will participate in at least one professional development event in the near
futureandseewhatyoualreadyknowandwhatyoucangain.Schoolwillgiveyouthetherapeutic
knowledgethatyouneedtoknowbutthiswillshowyouhowapplicablethatknowledgeis!It’salso
agreatwaytomeetnewfriendsandhavesomefun.YoumaysurpriseyourselfandIpromiseyou
thatit’llbeanexperienceyouwouldn’twanttomiss!

Sloveniawasamazing,seeyouallinThailand!

ShirleyYeung
ChairpersonofProfessionalDevelopment200910

AbigHELLOfromLuxembourgtoallIPSFersoutthere!

I am Anca Pop, one of the oldies in the executive committee. For the past 5
years, just thinking about IPSF made me feel super energetic and positive. My
great IPSF adventure started back in 2005, in Bonn, Germany as an official
delegate for FASFR Romania. Wonderful time… And then Cairns, Taipei, Cluj
Napoca and finally Bali, when thought that it will be officially my last IPSF
experience.ButthingswerenotasIthought,andIamgladtheyturnedoutthis
way.

I was appointed as Chairperson of Public Health and I feel that this is the best way to express my
gratitudetoIPSFforthebeautifulmomentsofferedallmystudentlife.Ihopethattheworkdone


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

this year together with public health coordinators and public health subcommittee is a big step
forward.

This year had a variety of feelings to experience, successful initiatives, less successful ones, but,
overall,withmyexecutivefellows,Ithinkwemanagetoleavesomethingbigtobecarriedon.

Currently I am doing an internship in Luxembourg, internship that will end just before the IPSF
congress,perfectmomenttodrawthelineandanalyzetogetherwiththecongressparticipantsthe
workdone,thefuturestepsandhowweshouldmakethem.

Ihopethatthisbulletinwillbeaninspirationforstudentsallovertheworldtogetmoreinvolvedin
IPSFprojectsandIamlookingforwardtomeetingyouinSlovenia!

Cheers,

AncaPop
ChairpersonofPublicHealth200910

DearPharmacyFriendsWorldwide,

Many warm greetings from Taiwan, China! I am Jane AiChen Ho, the
Chairperson of Public Relations 20092010. The IPSF experience has been
simplyphenomenalforme.Itstartedoffwiththe2007IPSFWorldCongressin
Taipei, where I was part of the Reception Committee as English Training
Coordinator, hostess on stage for all social events and Chief Editor of the
Congress Daily. It showed me the dynamics of the only international
organization representing pharmacy students, I made so many friends around the world and so it
inspiredmetojoinmyownnationalassociation,thePharmaceuticalStudents’AssociationofTaiwan
(PSATaiwan, China), where I became the Contact Person and external VicePresident.  In 2008,
when I attended the Regional Symposium of IPSF in Asia: Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium
(APPS) in Thailand as an Official Delegate for PSATaiwan, China, I also ran for election for the
RegionalRelationsOfficer(RRO)oftheRegionalWorkingGroup(RWG)oftheAsiaPacificRegional
Office (APRO) of IPSF and was elected. Working on the regional level was a whole other special
experience, been able to contact with pharmacy students regionally and to be able to assist in
finding new members for IPSF. All this encouraged me to get involved more on the international
levelandhencehereIamastheChairpersonofPR.

This year has been the busiest year of my life, but at the same time the most rewarding. Getting
involved in student organization does not only inspire you more to promote our great pharmacy
profession,italsotaughtmesomuchoftheskillsinlifethatcanonlybegainedthroughexperiences
within these organization:  project, event, stress, time management, brainstorming for solutions,
writing,leadershipandmostofall:alotofcommunicationwithdifferentpeoplefromalloverthe
world, which was the main part of being a PR. Being passionate about what you do will increase
one’s level in communication. Every single person that I have communicated with has taught me
moreofitsimportance.Gettingtoknowmoreaboutthedifferentactivitiesthatpharmacystudents


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

are doing around the world will make a difference and be able to promote IPSF to new joining
membersthisyearhasbeenthemostrewardingpartofmyportfolio.

GetinvolvedinIPSF!Makeadifference!

VivaLaPharmacie!

JaneAiChenHo
ChairpersonofPublicRelations,200910

Heyeveryone!

OneturningpointsofmylifewasjoiningtheinternationalExecutiveCommittee
ofIPSFbybeingelectedasChairpersonofMediaandPublications200910inBali.
Iconsidermyselfoneoftheluckiestpersonstobeinthisposition.I’masenior
pharmacystudentinEgyptstudyingatTantaUniversity.EversinceIgotelected
in Bali, I tried to take publications of IPSF into another level of creativity and
professionalism.

This year we conducted partial redesigning for the website, released many stylish and dynamic
newsletters, and with the help of Design and Creativity subcommittee we were able to publish
Phutureandthisnewsbulletinintheircurrentform.Workinginaninternationalorganizationina
multiethnic,multiculturalenvironmenthasbroadenedmyscopeandaddedalottomyexperience,
it has been a great pleasure to travel,  represent IPSF in many events and work among a team of
enthusiastichardworkingindividuals,it’sadreamcametrue.

Big things start small, joining IPSF executive committee was just a small thought inside my head;
therefore,mymessagetoallIPSFers,trustyourabilities,confrontnewchallengesandalwaysthrive
formore,you’rethefutureofIPSF.

Cheers,

AmrSobhy
ChairpersonofMediaandPublications200910

DearestIPSFers!

I am Bálint Tóth, current Chairperson of Student Exchange from Hungary.
HavingworkedforIPSFin3outofmy4yearsinthedegreesofar,Icansurely
saytheFederationmadeahugeimpactonmylife!

During the term with the other great Executive members, my love for
multiculturalism and international cooperation got even stronger than
before.Inotherwords,IPSFrules!


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

AstheadministratorofoneofthelargerprojectsoftheFederation,theStudentExchangeProgram,I
was responsible for liaising with the Student Exchange Officers of member organizations, chairing
theevergreatStudentExchangeCommitteeaswellmediatingandsolvingvariousissuesregarding
the Program. Besides these activities, I contributed to general Executive topics in which I felt
competentabout.

Since my appointment not long after Bali, I enjoyed every moment of my job regardless how
challenging it was at times. If you have a passion for international mobility and professional
development with a hint of fun here and there, SEP might be for you too! I can only support
everyonetotrywhatthefamousSEPandIPSFspiritisabout,youwillnotregretforsure.Youcan
contactmeatsep@ipsf.orgifyouhaveanyqueries.

Asourslogangoes:Let’sSEP!

BálintTóth
ChairpersonofStudentExchange200910

DearIPSFers,

I first became involved in IPSF when I was appointed CP of Nairobi University
PharmacyStudents’Association(NUPSA),Kenyain2007.RepresentingKenyaat
the 2nd World Healthcare Students’ Symposium in Albufeira, Portugal in
November2007courtesyoftheIPSFDevelopmentFundEventsgrantwassuchan
eyeopenertothemagnificentIPSFworld.AsanyonewhohashadatasteofIPSF
wouldattest,IPSFislikeavirus,onceyouareinfected,youcanjustspreaditbut
noteradicate!OnappointmentastheChairpersonofAfRO,Ifelttheimmensedesiretospreadthis
IPSF spirit to the whole African continent to ensure that all corners can feel it too and that the
regions’voiceinIPSFbecomeslouderthaneverbefore!TheultimatefruitofactiveIPSFparticipation
isjustsosweet:cementingfriendshipsgloballyandpersonalandprofessionaldevelopment.Iama
livingproofofthat!Giveitatry!Seeforyourself!

BedanMaina,
ChairpersonofAfricanRegionalOffice200810


GreetingsfromtheAsiaPacificRegionalOfficeofIPSF,

My name is Melissa Hong from Malaysia. My first experience with IPSF was
backin2008whereIattendedthe7thAsiaPacificPharmaceuticalSymposium
inKhonkean,Thailand.Sincethen,IhavebeenactivelypromotingIPSFbackin
myhomecountryanddecidedtobringitupanotchbygettinginvolvedinthe
Asia Pacific Regional Office of IPSF in the following year. It has been a
wonderfuljourneywheremanyfriendshipsandinspirationsweremade.Ilook
forwardtoworkwithaverypassionateteam,whichhasshowngreatenthusiasmtoserveandwork
for IPSF. In the coming year, the office will continue to carry out more activities and we hope to


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

extendtheIPSFhandoffriendshiptononmembercountrieswhilstimprovingourrelationshipwith
ourbelovedmembers.

VivalaPharmacie!

MelissaHong
ChairpersonofAsiaPacificRegionalOffice200911



Dearpharmacistsoftomorrow,

WarmgreetingsfromEgypt,especiallyfromthecharmingAlexandria,whereIhad
myfirststepsinmyIPSFlife.Locally,IstartedinASPSAastheChairpersonofPublic
RelationsandIPSFContactperson,thenshortlyIwasappointedastheIPSFEastern
Mediterranean Regional Coordinator and now I have the honour of working
together with the first EMRO Regional Working Group in the history of IPSF. My
policy is that with each privilege comes higher responsibilities and my personal
beliefisthateachoneofuswasbroughttothisworldforauniquereasonandthat
thejourneyofourlives,isthejourneyoffindingthisreasonandfulfillingit.

Workingin IPSFresemblesanopportunityformetotrytocarryoutwhatIbelievein; Ibelievein
humanity, in our potentials, in our abilities to create a brighter future  a future where we can
eradicatethefrownsofpeopleinpainanddrawasmile,aglimpseofhope.

Sodaretodream,daretobelieve,daretomakeadifferenceandmakeyourlifecount.

MarwaBeltagy
ChairpersonofEasternMediterraneanRegionalOffice200811



InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

by organizing IPSF Leaders in Training

NewsSection
WorkshopsforIPSFandEPSAmembersduring
IPSF has reached several progresses during EPSAAutumnAssemblyinGenoa,Italyduring
the last few months. Through strengthening October2009.
IPSF relations with international partner
organizations, starting with participating in 
the UNESCO International Youth Forum in
There were also several joint workshops in
Paris, October 2009 and started to improve
AntiCounterfeitproducts,HIV\AIDsandTBin
relations between IPSF and UNESCO along
order to share the efforts done by the two
withcooperatingwithotherNGOsthathavea
associations in terms of this very important
relationswithUNESCO,alsoIPSFmanagedto
publichealthissues.Ontheotherhand,IPSF
renew its relations with World Health
Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office
Organization(WHO)duringthe126thSession
(EMRO) launched its first Eastern
of the Executive board meeting in January
Mediterranean Pharmaceutical Symposium
2010InGeneva,Switzerland.
(EMPS),whichtookplacefromthe2ndto9th
 of July 2010 in Amman, Jordan with the
theme (A Dose of Change).  EMPS this year
During November 2009, IPSF managed to co was a great success, as the first IPSF
organize the 3rd World Healthcare Student symposium to address the challenges of
Symposium(WHSS)inAlexandria,Egypt,with pharmacyprofessionintheregion.
European Pharmaceutical Students’
Association (EPSA), International Federation 
of Medical Student’ Association (IFMSA) and
IPSF has also taken big steps in restructuring
European Medical Students' Association
theIPSFcongressesandestablishingaquality
(EMSA). The symposium aim was to discuss
framework for the future IPSF congresses in
the ways of cooperation between different
order to improve the data and workshops
professions in health care and possible
presented during the congress.  This will
cooperation projects between the different
increase involvement for IPSF members in
student organizations in terms of public
structuring the congress along with making a
healthandhumanitarianactivities.
full evaluation for the congress and for each
 sessionandmakeasummaryforthecongress
inapostcongressbooklet.
TheIPSFmajoreventthisyearwaslaunching
IPSFhumanitarianprojectMobilePharmacyin 
Northern Uganda Project (MPNUP). The
In the past few months, IPSF was trying to
projectistoprovidebasichealthcareservices
rebuild and activate its Pharmacy Education
in refugee camp in Pader District and also
portfolio, starting from creating a new
running several public health campaigns by
Subcommittee for Pharmacy Education and
theIPSFvolunteersthere.
revivingIPSF MovingOn2Project,whichisa
 questionnairebasedprojecttoinvestigatethe
learningskillsforstudentsincooperationwith
In terms of regional activities, IPSF started a Pharmacy Education Taskforce. We also
strong cooperation with European prepared the IPSF Educational supplement,
Pharmaceutical Students' Association (EPSA), IPSF Phuture, and the IPSF international


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
Assays competition, which was launched in
April 2010.
Last but not least, in terms of cooperation
between IPSF and FIP, IPSF is organizing the
IPSF–FIPStudents'dayintheFIPCongressin
Lisbon, in cooperation with the Pharmacy
Education Taskforce with the theme of


HLMMessage
(OrHowIPSFChangedMyLife...)
ToIPSFtoIPSF,VivalaPharmacie!Thewords
of the song are guaranteed to lift my spirits
and remind me of many happy IPSF times.
Without IPSF, I may not have seen the
mountains and beaches of El Salvador, the
palacesandtemplesofThailand,thefantastic
city of Singapore and not to mention the
international version of the renowned BPSA
rave!
IPSF started for me when I entered and won
the BPSA competition to win a place at IPSF
CongressandIwasonthewaytoElSalvador.
 entertain the audience.  I must also have
Friendships made there remain strong today,
and I still have souvenirs and pharmacy
clothing from the DF auction.  My volunteer

"leadershipinpractice".Also,IPSFisplanning
to have its own reception during the FIP
congress, along with inviting FIP to have its
own reception in IPSF congress in Slovenia
2010.  IPSF have created special page for FIP
specifically YPG in IPSF website in order to
show the connection between IPSF and FIP
and that FIP is the step after IPSF. We also
intend to have IPSFFIP Joint publication and
Educationalsupplements.
tendencies got me a job working on IPSF
subcommitteesandthenewPresidentofIPSF
was my friend and fellow Scot Lindsay
McClure. Over the years, I gained a real
professional awareness and a sense of what
pharmacists could achieve all over the world
as well as a fantastic group of international
friendsofwhommanywerealsoattherecent
FIPCongressinIstanbul,wherewehelpedthe
IPSF Exec celebrate the 60th anniversary of
theFederation.
IexperiencedtheIPSFspiritintwomainways,
which I would encourage members from all
over the world to try – through the Annual
CongressandbyworkingontheExecutive.
I loved all of the Congresses I attended from
El Salvador to Bonn; whether I was
participating in the General Assembly by
submitting points of order from the back of
the room or trying to answer them from the
Secretary General’s seat or whether helping
lead a Future of the Federation workshop or
tryingtocatchupwiththeCongressbarcrawl
in Halifax, Canada. I have not seen anything
else in the world like International Evening
where each country performs something to
boughthundredsofEurosworthofpharmacy
fashions from the DF auction over the years
coming pretty close to Lindsay McClure and
SimonBellinthealltimerankings.
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

colleagues felt right at home.  I also

remember a fancy dress party in the
apartment attended by something like 30
peoplefrom15countriesthatexemplifiedthe
IPSFspirit.

IfeelluckytohavebeenpartofIPSFoverthe
yearsandwouldstronglyencouragemembers
everywhere to experience the Congress and
consider running for Executive posts. If not,
Ialsofeelprivilegedtohavebeenpartoftwo
there are so many other ways to experience
fantastic Executives. I responded to a call to
the IPSF spirit whether writing for News
serve on my first Exec when the post of
Bulletin or supplements to tell students all
SecretaryGeneralwasunfilledandalthoughI
overtheworldwhatyouaredoing,attending
did not move to The Hague, there was still a
national or regional events, participating in
fair bit of work for me to do! Staying in The
student exchange or running public health
Hague is a real experience and you definitely
campaigns in your schools and faculties. It’s
needanIPSFveterantoshowyoutheropes–
fair to say my life would be completely
luckily I had Boyan and later Katja. That year
differentwithoutIPSF.Yourscanbetoo.
wasayearofmanydevelopmentswithinthe
Federation, including our links with WHO, Yoursinpharmacy,
regional developments, and steps towards
ouronlineSEP. Scott(fromScotland)Dalgliesh
SecretaryGeneral20032005
We had a great Congress in Halifax and I
thought that was the end of my active
participationinIPSF.IquicklydiscoveredIwas
wrong and experienced a very large IPSF
shaped gap in my life, so when the
opportunity came up (again) to serve the
Federation and work with a new great Exec
teamIjumpedatthechance.

ThatlastyearontheExecutiveincludedmany
stories including being in The Hague for an
Exec meeting during the worst snow in 20
years, so much so that our Canadian


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
BeinganIPSFCP…
Veliki pozdrav iz Hrvatske (Greetings from
Croatia),
My name is Mateja Vrtacnik. I'm a 5th year
student at the Pharmaceutical and
Biochemistry Faculty at the University of
Zagreb.Foraboutayear,I'vebeenaContact
Person (CP) for Croatian Pharmaceutical and
Biochemistry Students' Association (CPSA).
This was my first experience with IPSF. Our
president, Samy Jebrini, and Student
Exchange Officer (SEO), Maja Lisjak Besedic,
asked me to step up and take over the CP
position. I was very honoured but scared
becauseIdidn'tknowifIcoulddothejob,so
needlesstosaythatmybeginningswereabit
bumpy. When I took over this position, a
wholedifferentworldopeneduptome.Iwas
very overwhelmed and not actively involved
in discussions because I didn't want to do or
say anything wrong. The thing was by not
communicating, I was actually doing
everything wrong. But then I got a wakeup
call that I needed from my amazing and
motivating team who told me to relax
because being a CP means being a bridge
betweenmyassociationandIPSF.
I started to loosen up and opened my
communication lines. That's when I realized
something, communication is a two way
street.Soinordertocommunicate,youhave
to contribute to the conversation. By

reportingaboutdifferentprojects,Istartedto
realize how diverse IPSF is and how different
associationsresponddifferentlytochallenges
withinterestingsolutions.
Acoupleofmonthsago,Ireportedaboutone
of our biggest projects, Sign Language, which
was organized by Nikolina Kelava. The
responses I got from other associations were
so amazing and motivating. When I reported
the responses back to my association, we
wereallverygladtoknowthatwearedoing
something new and interesting but also that
our association is heading in the right
direction.
Forme,beingaCPisanhonourandprivilege.
I'mabletopromotemyassociationandactive
membersfrommyassociationinIPSFbutI'm
also able to exchange ideas with other
amazingCPsaroundtheworld.Canitgetany
better?!
MatejaVrtacnik
ContactPerson
CroatianPharmaceuticalandBiochemistry
Students'Association(CPSA)

Helloeverybody!

I'mBastienVenot,vice
president in charge of
internationalaffairsfor
Association Nationale
des Etudiants en
Pharmacie de France
(ANEPF).  I'm in 6th
year, and at the
moment,I'mhavingapracticeinacommunity
pharmacyfor6months.
I got involved in IPSF last year in Bali, during
theAnnualCongress.There,Imetalotofnew
friends. For sure, this was the most amazing
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

experienceofmylife.Atthattime,Iwasnot OurFuture,Our
sure that I wanted to run for my ANEPF
positionfewmonthslater,butIhavetoadmit
Responsibility
thatthisinternationalspiritwentdirectlyinto IPSF and its members do not believe in
mybloodthere. standing and waiting for things to happen,
they make things happen. Some of our
I started my role of Contact Person (CP) in membershavewrittenaboutwhattheydidto
October.ThismeansI'mthelinkbetweenmy bring the change, which they had envisioned
country, my students, my association and starting with a peek about what IPSF did to
IPSF!Well,OK,thisisthedefinitionsoI’mnot improvePharmacyEducationglobally.
sayinganythingnew.ButIwantedtogiveyou
myowndefinition. MOVINGONIIPROJECTINTERNATIONALTRENDS
INPHARMACYEDUCATION 
The main reason that led to the creation of
Thereisanincreasinginterestinstandardsof
IPSFistoencouragecooperationbetweenthe
pharmacy education as health policy world
countries.TheCPwillneverhesitatetoaskfor
widebecomesmorefocusedonextendingthe
other countries’ opinion and will always be
roles of pharmacy practitioners. As students
free to give a hand to countries in need for
are at the centre of preservice education,
supportorhelp.TheCPhastobedevotedto
theirinputisimportantinthedevelopmentof
hisposition.It'skindoffulltimejob.Youhave
educational policies and practices. Therefore,
to be connected with the other CPs 95% of
it is of interest to survey the extent of the
theyearbehindyourcomputerand5%during
student learning experience for the
theCongress.
construction of an evidence base for
Tomymind,theCongressistheCP'smoment educationaldevelopment.
ofglory,there,CPistheoneawareofallthe
Educational equity cannot be achieved
internationalstuffinhisownassociationsohe
without assuring the quality of education.
can explain everything to his/her national
Several approaches have been made to
executive.And,themostimportantpoint,CP
quality; measuring the student learning
cantalkabouteverythinginreallifetoother
experience is a convincing marker for quality
CPs that he only met virtually. In accordance
and satisfaction to provide information for
withmypredecessor,thisisreallyamazing.
educational policy development and
Butstill,asIsaidtoyou,myfirstIPSFcongress implementation.
wasunforgettableandatthattime,Iwasnot
As changes occur in our profession, the
even CP, that's why I'm even more than
requirements for education are changing as
impatienttoattendthenextoneinSlovenia!
well to meet the new services that are
Buttomakethisonelegendary,Ineedtosee
emerging or even new roles due to public
youthere,yes,you.You,thatisreadingthese
demand.Curriculumdesignanddeliveryisas
fewlines!AsSloveniansays:“Comeon!Taste
important as curriculum content to ensure
it,liveit,neverforgetit!”
thatstudents’expectationsaremet,effective
BastienVenot learning takes place, and competent
ContactPerson graduates are produced. Pharmacy students’
VicePresidentofInternationalAffairs educationalexperienceislikelytoaffecttheir
AssociationNationaledesEtudiantsen decisions to join or remain in the profession,
PharmaciedeFrance(ANEPF)


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
as well as their attitude towards, and
competencein,practice.1
"Moving On II,” allows worldwide
comparisons of the learning experiences of
students (undergraduate) enrolled in
pharmacy programs. It is the first survey to
makeinternationalcomparisonsinthefieldof
pharmacy education and is the largest study
ofitstypetodate.Datacollectedwillbeused
as a tool for education advancement. In
particular, the project is interested in why
pharmacyisanattractiveprofessiontoyoung
people,andthemotivationsthatarecurrently
drivingenrolmentatpharmacyschools.
It has already obtained evidence of student
demographics and their motivations for
choosing pharmacy from around 10,000
students in 32 countries. Data collection
started in 2004/2005 and has been collected
until 2008. This year we are launching the
surveyoncemore,thistimeanonlineversion
tomakeiteasierandsimplerforthestudent
toreply.Ifyouwouldliketoparticipateagain
orforthefirsttime,pleasecontactyourlocal
CP.
Some of the previous results show that
pharmacy students’ learning experiences and
coursesatisfactionvarywidely.Gender,social
support, geographical regions and level of
countrydevelopmentaffectthemeasurement
variablesandindicatethateffortsareneeded
to narrow the quality and equity gap in
pharmacyeducationglobally.
If you would like to read more about the
previous results regarding the Moving On II,
please see – “Pharmacy students are moving
on–buthowwasthejourney?”ZhiningGoh,
LuisLourenço,LesleyZwicker,TanaWulijiand
Sarah Carter. International Pharmacy Journal
Vol22,No.1June2007pages2326.1
Students’haveavoicethatcanberesponsible
for the way their future is shaped. Engaging

withassociationsisonewaytobeheard.Tell
us how you feel about your learning
experience, what you think can be different,
what you like to see in a near future…
Rememberthatthestudentsoftodaywillbe
the pharmacists of tomorrow! Grab the IPSF
experienceandbechangemakers…
AndreiaBruno   
ResearchAssociate,FIPCollaboratingCentre

ITSTARTSWITHONE:PROPERRXDISPOSAL
“ItStartswithOne”istheprojectofAmerican
Pharmacists Association – Academy of
Student Pharmacists (APhAASP). On January
2009, a group of student pharmacists,
including myself, decided on Proper Rx
Disposal as the topic of the project for our
chapter.Theaimofthisprojectistoeducate
community members on proper way to
dispose their unused or expired medications.
There is increasing awareness on how the
medications that got into the environment
have brought harm to pets, plants, and
wildlife.
Based on smarxtdisposal.net, unused or
expiredmedicationsshouldnotbeflushedor
poured down a sink. Some simple steps to
properly dispose medications include: (1)
pourmedicationintoasealableplasticbag;if
solid, crush the medication and add water to
dissolve;(2)addkittylitter,sawdust,orcoffee
groundstotheplasticbag;(3)sealitandput
it in the trash; (4) remove all identifying
personal information from all medication
containersbeforerecyclingorthrowingthem
away. However, there are some medications
that FDA recommends to be flushed, such as
narcoticsanddrugswithhighabusepotential.
For one semester, we gave presentation at
local community pharmacies to educate the
public on this matter. This small project,
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
whichwasstartedbyfivepharmacystudents,
wasdevelopedintoalargerscaleprojectthis
year. From “It starts with one: Proper Rx
Disposal,”theprogramhaschangedto“Take
Back Rx.” The “Take Back Rx” project is a
county and community organized program in
conjunction with the pharmacy students. At
theseevents,communitymemberswereable
to bring their unused medications to be
properlydisposed.
Also, pharmacy students together with
preceptors provided health screenings called
brownbag.Atbrownbagevents,patientscan
bring their medication lists to be checked for
any interactions or side effects. This new
project provides the opportunity to all
pharmacy students at the college to
participate in educating the public and in
healthscreeningsduringdifferenthealthfairs
and pharmacy events. Proper medication
disposalhasalsobeenapartoftheToxicology
classmaterialsforpharmacystudents.Weare
hoping by increasing awareness among
students and local community members,
morepeoplecanbeinfluencedtoreduceand
to prevent the harm that can be caused by
medicationsthatgetintotheenvironment.
JulianeChristina,APhAASP
Tucson,Arizona,USA
OURJOURNALCLUB
When I was in the first year, I always
wondered “What is research, how are they
done, can our small mind really understand
such great work?” There was no one to help
me. When I asked my seniors and faculties, I
gotsamereply–“itisinyourfinalyear,don’t
worry now, you will learn then”. I wasted
whole of my first year just wondering about
theresearch.
WhenIwasinsecondyear,Iheardthatthere
werefewactivitiesbyjournalclubinthepast,

but remained somewhere in the history. I
tried to understand what journal club is, and
then I got solution to all of my wonderings. I
soon contacted my seniors, passedout and
faculties and our students society and
determined to revitalize it. I managed our
journal club for a whole year. The meetings
were well attended by faculty and students
alike. Sometimes we also managed to bring
externalspeakers,whichaddedtoexperience.
The faculties showed interest and most
importantly, our final year students, who
needtomakeresearchpresentations,showed
greatinterest.
Towards the end of my tenure, we came to
seeaverysatisfactoryresult.Thosefinalyear
students who made a presentation in our
journal club and attended it regularly were
found it very helpful. They were also able to
have a better insight to various aspects of
their own research work by understanding
crucial terms like of confidence level,
sampling procedure, eliminating biasness,
referencing style etc.  The Department of
Pharmacy also realized that journal club has
really improved the critically analyzing skills
and understanding of a research work. This
helped us have a better understanding of
researchandimproveouranalyticalthinking.
AmitSubedi,NPSA
Kathmandu,Nepal.

THEDRIVETOINTEGRATETECHNOLOGYINTOOUT
SCHOOLS 
“Education is a fundamental human process;
itisamatterofvaluesandaction.”
Iwasthekeymemberofmycollegestudent’s
advisorycommitteeduringthesecondyearof
my undergraduate course. We initiated an e
learning system in our university and its
affiliated colleges. The university chancellor
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
was impressed by our proposal and also
fundedourproject.
Firstly,westartedourprojectwiththehelpof
few engineering students of our university in
the engineering college and then slowly to
other departments. It took nearly 18 months
to finish the project within the university
campus. Later we took the project to other
schoolsinourlocality.
Teachers and students have instantaneous
access to vast amounts of information and a
widerangeoflearningtools.Wemadethese
resources available not only to affluent
schools but also to rural school districts and
innercity schools. The main goal of this
projectwastospreadtheBroadaccess,which
canreducedifferencesinthequalityofonline
education and give children in all areas new
opportunities to learn.  To date, our project
was implemented in our complete university
andalmost9schoolsinthenearbyruraland
sub urban places of Salem district in Tamil
Nadu,India.
We provided schools with potential access
points and online educational centres for
exploring Internet resources. A software
company called “Pancharam systems” owned
by my university controlled the main
database.
My personal conclusion is that all students,
regardless of race, ethnic group, gender,
socioeconomic status, geographic location,
age,language,ordisability,deserveequitable
accesstochallengingandmeaningfullearning
and achievement. This concept has profound
implications for teaching and learning
throughouttheschoolcommunity.Itsuggests
that ensuring equity and excellence must be
at the core of systemic reform efforts in
educationasawhole.
And we are trying my best to convince and
explain its advantages to many more schools

to establish e learning system in their
schools.
ManideepGupta,IPASF
Hyderabad,India


WHEREISTHEPHARMACYEDUCATIONHEADING
ATIPSF???
The education portfolio is a relatively young
area for IPSF, which has also remained
relativelyunexplored.Thiswasalsooneofmy
reasons to run for the position of the
ChairpersonofPharmacyEducation.
IPSFthroughitsMovingonProjectshastried
to create tools which to help pharmacy
education globally. As part of my term, we
were able to revive the Moving On II project
again. This research project tries to compare
the learning experiences of the enrolled in
pharmacyprogramsinagloballevel.Itisthe
firsttomakeinternationalcomparisonsinthe
fieldofpharmacyeducationandisthelargest
study of its type to date. I feel that MO II
should be a continuous project where it is
revived every 24 years to give a fresh global
andnationalperspectiveofwhatstudentsare
thinking about their programs and how to
improvethem.
We should also move on and get global
opinion for other issues, which matter, for
pharmacy students across the world by
creating sequels to the Moving On projects.
The International Essay Competition being
started this year and should be promoted
more aggressively. This competition could
alsobesourceforideasandprojectsatIPSF.

IPSFdoesnotprovidemediumtermandlong
termresearchopportunitiesforitsmembers.
The next chairperson should work towards
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
identification and creation of internship
positionsinpharmaceuticalsciencesresearch
for interested members by tying up with
institutions and companies alike.  I also see
the need for creation of an undergraduate
researchaward,whichwillsupportaproject,
proposed by IPSF members to encourage
pharmacystudentstotakeupresearchearly.
IPSF should continue its close collaboration
with WHO and FIP on the PatientSafety
Curriculum Guide. The Pharmacy Education
Subcommittee should be activated. Positions
for Moving On coordinators and Phuture
coordinator should be created. This will not
onlyreducetheworkloadfortheChairperson
butalsoeasehumanresourcesissuesforthe
portfolio.
The pharmacy education portfolio has
immense potential to individuals and the
education systems. We need to work on this
portfolio,reviewingourprogressandrevising
ourtargetstomakethedifferenceitcan.
VivalaPharmacie
MurthyChittoory
ChairpersonofPharmacyEducation,200910
 Judgingbythelargenumberofstudentsthat
PROJECTSANDACTIVITIES
CLINICALSKILLSEVENT(CSE)INSERBIA
Serbia has moved one step further in
developing its pharmacy field toward clinical
skills together with medical students. For the
fifth time this event took a place in a Novi
Sad, Serbia in March 2010, with the quite
populartopic“Modernobesitytherapy”.This
topicwaschosenbecauseofpotentialfailures
and mistakes related with pharmacotherapy,
nutrition counselling, and also with many
misconceptions about the surgical aspect of
obesity treatment. Improvement of

communication between pharmacy and
medical students as well as increasing
student’s knowledge of the mentioned
relevantissueswastheaimofthisproject.
Duringthetheoreticalpartoftheproject,the
students had the opportunity to be
introducedwithnewestdiscoveries,themost
common therapy mistakes, diet of the target
population groups and their physical
activities. After gaining the theoretical basis,
participants took part in a workshop in a
groups made from pharmacy and medical
students,wheretheyunderthesupervisionof
moderators solved patient cases. In addition,
themostvaluablepartofCSEwasexactlythat
when students identified and recognized
patient problems and then together made
diagnosisandsuggestedtherapy.
NAPSerfeltthiseventneedfulbecauseofthe
importance of collaboration between
healthcare professionals which is not
recognizedinSerbiaasitshouldbe.Bygiving
themachancetoworkasateamduringtheir
studies, they will perceive the importance of
their communication and make them
improving their clinical skills that can only
bringbenefitsforthepatients.
have attended the conference and their very
positivecomments,thisCSEwasafullsuccess
andNAPSerwillkeepitdoinglikethat.
NinaBukumirovic
NationalPharmaceuticalStudents´
Association–Serbia(NAPSer)

FIRSTPCEINSLOVAKIAINBIGGERSCALE
Our SPSA (Slovak Pharmaceutical Students´
Association, www.sssf.sk) plan for year 2009
10wasreallyhuge.Weimplementedtwonew
and great projects for our members, the
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

Pharmaceutical Job Fair (Farmaceutický trh

práce)andthePatientCounsellingEvent(PCE)
inournationallevelundernameMajstrovstvá
vlekárenskej komunikácii. It was first time in
15yearsthatwehavehadthisprojectandwe
arereallyhappythatweachievedit.Buthow
diditstart?

 studentsmoveonintonationalSlovakround.
Our preparation started in September 2009
when SPSA and SLeK (Slovak Chamber of
Pharmacists,www.slek.sk)hadmeetingabout
PCE. We started to work on it, but in late of
year2009JánRderpresidentofCPSACzech
republic called me with offer for SPSA join
bigger Patient Counselling Event. CPSA has
alot of experience with this project, so the
answerwasYES.Heexplainedtomethatwe
will conduct it also with faculty in Brno and
their student union. So in the end, the PCE
project involved 3 faculties, 3 students´
associations, Czech and Slovak chamber of
pharmacists and sponsor. It’s ahuge project
for the first year, isn´t it? The plan for the
projectwasdividedintofewsteps.First,there
wasaninteractivewholedayworkshopabout
communication for students. Next, 12
students from each faculty moved on to
national/regional PCE. Then, there were 4
winners, who advanced into CzechoSlovak
PCE in Prague. From this round the winner is
comingtoSloveniaIPSFcongresstocompete
withinternationalstudentsinPCE.
ButmoreabouttheSlovakpart.Theeffective
communication workshop held place in
headquarter of Slovak Chamber of
Pharmacists on 18March 2010. 25 students
attended this workshop and were really
happy they could attend it. 12 of these
Thishappenedon8April2010inthefacultyof
pharmacy. Three actor students came to be
apseudopatient. One of them was buying
medicine for 8 years old sister, who had a
cough. He doesn´t know all symptoms so he
called his mother. In mean time second
patient was in ahurry and wanted only
paracetamol quickly. The last patient were
coughing all the time and making a stressful
atmosphere. Students had to solve this
horrible problem. And they did really great.
This event brought also attention of media.
Articleswereinnewspapersinlocaltelevision
and also afterwards SPSA were invited for
studiointerviewaboutSPSA.
Our finalists Matej Mydla, Eva Hroncová,
Marián Skoík and Katarína Krútelová moved
on into CzechoSlovak PCE round in Prague
on21April2010.Thefinalsweregreatandall
threefacultiescouldshowcasetheirqualities.
Our national winner Matej Mydla is also
attending IPSF congress in Slovenia and we
arereallyhappyforthis.



InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

overcrowded, poverty and disease are

widespread. Furthermore, moving citizens
away from their homeland has resulted in a
lackofcropsbeingplanted,fertilizedandthe
abandonment of water systems, education
andhealthservices.ThepeopleofPaderwant
to go back to their homes and although
arrangementsarebeingmadetoallowthisto
happen,itmaytakeuntiltheendofthisyear.

 An example of one of these camps is Amoko

LastpartofthisprojectwasreleasingofDVD
from Slovak part on 6May 2010. This DVD
with12scenescouldbereallyhelpfultoolfor
teaching students how to communicate
better.
Keep in touch with SLOVAKIA. May the IPSF
spiritbewithyou!
VivalaPharmacie.
TomášValena
Lagwai, which is home to 1,229 inhabitants.
The majority of people are unable to read or
write. The nearest health centre is 18
kilometres away, which is close to a 4 hour
walk.
The inhabitants of these camps commonly
sufferfromdiseasessuchasmalaria,typhoid,
oralgenital candidiasis, dysentery, fungal
Infections, worms, schistosomiasis, HIV/AIDS
and TB. A symptom of a number of the
aforementioneddiseasesisdiarrhea.

BoardofTrusteesofSlovakPharmaceutical
Students´Association201012


MOBILEPHARMACYINNORTHERNUGANDA
PROJECT

The lives of nearly two million Ugandan
citizens have been devastated by a twenty
three year long civil war between the
Ugandan government and the Lords 
Resistance Army (LRA). 25 000 children were
recruited and forced to become children of Diarrheacauses1.9milliondeathsinchildren
war and thousands of people were killed or under 5 every year1. In addition, unsanitary
injured. In 1996 the government made a environments, such as those in IDP camps,
decision to move 1.8 million citizens out of increase the rates of pathogens that cause
thePaderdistrictandintoIDPCamp. diarrheaandfacilitatetheirabilitytomultiply
more easily. And treatment is simple. The
Today, around 1 million Ugandans still WHOhasreportedthatoralrehydrationsalts
populate these camps and although these decrease the effects and duration of
campswere builtanddesignedwiththebest diarrhoea1 and i the gold standard for the
intention, they lack infrastructure, education treatment of this condition. In Gulu, 1 USD
systems and health care. Not only they are


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

coversenoughtreatmentfor100peoplewith ANTITBCAMPAIGN2010
diarrhoea.
IPSFBEMKEMAFARPadjadjaranUniversity,
On identifying a need for the provision of Indonesia
basic healthcare in these camps, IPSF agreed
On the 24th March, we always organize the
to collaborate with Respond ReNU, a non
TB campaign.  It is a day, when more than
governmentalorganizationbasedinNorthern
usual, we increase TB awareness because TB
Uganda, to establish and develop a project
isstillthereanditkillspeoplealmost2million
thatwouldremedythis.
per year. This year, IPSF BEM KEMAFAR
Since the beginning of January, a team, PadjadjaranUniversitydidaminiTBcampaign
consistingoftheFieldOperationsManager,a with the tagline “We’re the Community
Physician, a Translator and three pharmacy Educators,StopTBNow!”
students, visited the camps 3 times a week
We organized the campaign at our faculty
and provided basic healthcare to the
building and in front of the main gate of
inhabitants of IDP
Padjadjaran University, Jatinangor. Besides
camps.
this,weputuptheTBpostersincampusarea,
Communication has
we gave people stickers that consist of TB
been established
informationsuchasTBfacts,howtotreatTB,
with Village Health
and TB prevention. We gave the stickers to
Team Leaders, who
the students of pharmacy and other faculties
communicated the
around our campus area, and also to the
visitation days to
lecturersandadministrationemployees.They
camp inhabitants.
were so excited because we also told them
On this day, people requiring healthcare
directly about TB facts and DOTs strategy to
assemble at a predetermined contact point
cureTB.
and those requiring care are assessed by the
physician. The role of the pharmacy students Wealsoapproachedthehighschoolstudents
was to dispense medication and counsel that were visiting Padjadjaran University
patientsonitsuse.Inaddition,theyplayeda (School Goes to Campus event) and we gave
roleinimplementingpublichealthcampaigns themTBinformationandstickers.
on topics such as, hygiene, sanitation and
malariaprevention. The weak points of the event were the
limitation of stickers that we made and also
Healthcareforthesepatientscouldmeanthe therewerestudentsdoinglabexaminationso
difference between life and death and this theycouldn’tjointhecampaign.
project provides pharmacy students with the
uniqueopportunitytochangetheirworld! But with this mini campaign and with a little

preparation of the committee, the campaign
could be held with a lot of enthusiasm from
 students,lecturers,andalsotheemployees.

Hopetheycanremembertheinformationand
 thatwealsomadeadifference!!!

 


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

presentation and debate. The students and

alsothepeoplelivingaroundthehostelwere
addressed by the guest lecture on the
awarenessofHIV/AIDS.

Later in the afternoon a BLOOD DONATION

camp was organized, the students, staff
members and other people had participated
voluntarily.Therewasamarkedachievement
shownbyABMRCPbycollectingmorethan90
units of blood in a day. It is supposed to be
the highest units collected by any college in
oneday.

The event was a graceful one due to large


number of enthusiastic participants and also
NadiaPutriUtamiDikti everyone was guiding and making everyone
CPofPadjadjaranUniversity elseawareaboutthepositiveaspectsofblood
donation.Thecollegeisproudtohaveagreat
References: achievement and also looking forward to
1. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)/World Health
makinganewmark,nextyear.
Organization(WHO),
Diarrhea: Why Children are still dying and what can be done; The fundraising for the children and people
2009
suffering from HIV/AIDS was also done.
People donating money got a red ribbon on
WORLDAIDSDAY
their shoulder with slogan LIVE STRONG. It
December1stiscelebratedasWorldAIDSDay was great to see a huge participation; the
allovertheworld.Ontheoccasionofsuchan funds raised were more than 15,000 Indian
important day, the students of Acharya & Rupees. This donation was used for caring
B.M.Reddy College of pharmacy (ABMRCP) people suffering from HIV/AIDS in hospitals
Bangalore, Karnataka – INDIA has arranged a and some was donated to NGO’s helping the
HIV/AIDSvictims.

The event ended in evening. It was a great

success as students have learnt a lot from it
like hosting campaign, leadership qualities,
openingtheirsocialspheresandenjoyedalot
too. Participants were awarded certificates
fortheirpricelesswork.Wehopethisactivity
willhappenagainnextyearonamuchwider
platform, so that more people can be saved
and/orhelped.

wholedayofHIV/AIDScampaign. JasmitSingh
IPSFPublicHealthSubcommitteemember
The students had participated in several
IPAINDIA.
events such as poster presentation, oral



InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

WORLDTUBERCULOSISDAY give out the pamphlets to the public,

however, it wasn’t that hard and there were
World TB Day is commemorated on the 24th
actually individuals who were interested in
of March every year. This year the
finding out more and those who attempted
International Relations Committee (IRC)
the games.
collaborated with the Singapore Anti
Ibelievethatthemostpopulargamewasthe
Tuberculosis Association (SATA) and
crossword puzzle as we distributed many
organized a 2 day campaign in lieu with the
copies of them and had many students
health bazaar from 22nd – 23rd of March to
coming back to the booths to claim their
promote tuberculosis awareness among staff
prizes.
andstudentsinNUS.
I was also quite surprised that our campaign
The committee started preparations for the
managed to pique the interest of Medical
bazaar in late February. Members of the IRC
professorsandcancerresearchersfromNUH,
brainstormed for ideas for attractive games
whocamedownandattemptedthequestions
that are both fun and educational about
andlookedattheposterssetup.Oneofthese
tuberculosis,collectedpostersfromSATAand
individualswasadoctorfromNUH,whoused
also obtained loads of prizes for the games.
to work with tuberculosis control. Some
Twomeetingswereheldtodelegateworkon
students took this opportunity to ask them
thevariousgames,andultimately,wesettled
more about his field of study and also about
with four games which are both innovative
tuberculosisandhisexperienceswithpatients
andeducational.
whocontractedthedisease.Ineverexpected
The first game was an on thego crossword the campaign to be a platform for medical
puzzleonfactsabouttuberculosiswhichupon professionals to teach and share with
completion would allow the participant to students about medical advances and
obtain a souvenir from the booth. The next experiencesinthemedicalfield.
gamewasan“aimandshoot”game,whereby
Ifoundtheexperienceorganizingandhelping
a participant had to throw three ping pong
outatthecampaignquiteenriching,becauseI
balls into numbered cups and answer the
know almost nothing about TB, I took this as
questions indicated by the number on the
an opportunity to learn more about the
cup. The third game was a memory game,
disease, including its nature, prevention,
where participants had to memorize a
diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. The
timeline on the major breakthroughs in
campaign also provided me a chance to
treatment, discoveries and diagnosis of
interact with the “layman” and explain to
tuberculosisandarrangetheseeventsbackin
themfactsabouttuberculosisinsimpleterms.
the right order. The last game was Mix and
I found that the campaign was also a good
Match; participants had to match six sets of
opportunity to meet and work together with
statements about prevention, symptoms,
myfellowcoursemates.Itwasfuninteracting
diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis
withfriendsandmembersofthepublicalike.
togethertowinaprize.
I’m sure that many staff and students alike
On the first day of the campaign, we arrived
have benefitted from this campaign and are
at9amtosetupthestationsandpreparethe
now more informed about the disease.
prizes.Atfirst,Iwasquiteworriedthatthere
Hopefullythroughorganizingsuchcampaigns,
would be no one and it would be difficult to
we will learn to be more competent


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

pharmacists. May next year’s campaign be a workshops, Patient Counselling Event,
successaswell! scientific poster exhibition, public health
campaignandcommunityservicewithorphan
FabianAw children,whomwehave accompaniedtothe
Year1PharmacyStudent amazingChildrenmuseumofAmman.
NUSPharmaceuticalSocietyMember


EVENTS
1ST EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN PHARMACEUTICAL
SYMPOSIUMANOTETOREMEMBER

This year Eastern Mediterranean Regional

Office(EMRO)hadalotofstepstogothrough
starting from empowering its roots by
building a strong foundation, placing policies
of communication and ending by the most
obvious accomplishment of our work for this
year: The 1st Eastern Mediterranean
PharmaceuticalSymposium(EMPS2010).

Theeventstartedasadreamwhichcametrue
withthehelpoftheJordanianPharmaceutical
Students' Federation (JPSA) that hosted the
eventandhelpedshapethehistoryofIPSFin
the region. With complete professionalism
and enthusiasm the JPSA team organized the
1stEMPS.

And with all the work we did not forget the
entertainment of participants who enjoyed
charming Eastern Mediterranean nature in
Jordan and tasted the Jordanian food which
was delicious "kteer zaaki." After several
beautiful places participants finished by
visiting the Dead Sea for the elegant gala
night where EMPS had its closing ceremony.
Thislastnightwasveryspecialwithcheersfor
the lovely moments that we all spent in
Amman and goodbye tears of those who
cametoJordanasstrangerstoeachotherand
leftitasafamily.
That was the spirit of the 1st EMPS. Are you
thinkingofjoiningthefamilynextyear?
MarwaBeltagy
ChairpersonofIPSFEMRO200811

The event was hosted in AlHussein Cultural

Centre in Amman and had delegates from
Egypt,Jordan,Qatar,KuwaitandEngland.For
seven days, students were received with the
Jordanian warm hospitality enjoying the
academic program that included sessions,


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010
56THIPSFWORLDCONGRESS
AUGUST2010,LJUBLJANA,SLOVENIA
ThiswasthethirdIPSFWorldCongressthatI
have attended, but my first as an IPSF
Executive.Iwasnotsurewhattoexpect,only
knowingthatitwillbeanextremelybusytwo
weeks.  It was quite interesting for me
because I was meeting most of the other
executive members for the first time;
however,thiswasnotaproblematall.Since
we spend so much time together, we were
likeafamilyinstantly.
WiththeshorttimeduringExecutivemeeting
3 for congress preparations, the first day of
congresscreptuponussilently.Soon,all300
participants from around the globe were
arrivinginthelobbyoftheDICHostel.Some
faces were familiar, but most of them were
new.Itwasanexcitingtimeforallofus.The
friendly Slovenian Reception Committee (RC)
was greeting everyone, allowing a smooth
registration for all the participants.
 HPV.  They provided the public with short

This was followed by the opening ceremony
atLjubljanaCastle,whichstoodmajesticallyat
the top of the city, providing us with a bird’s
eye view of Ljubljana.  All of the official
delegatesproudlyreceivedtheircountry’sflag
during the opening ceremony.  After this, it
wastrulythebeginningofthecongress.
AfterintroducingIPSFtoalltheparticipantsat
“Discover IPSF”, everyone mingled while
workshops and General Assembly (GA) were
happening.  Official Delegates attended GA
andassistedwithvariousimportantdecisions
for the federation, while other participants
attended parallel workshops.  There were a
variety of workshops, which were well
receivedbytheaudience.TheExecutivehad
to ensure all the different parts of the
congress were operating smoothly!  There
were also the Scientific and Educational
Symposium, which provided the participants
with some insight on gene therapy and
leadershiprespectively.

In between all of the workshops and GAs,
therewasadaytriptoBled,sportsactivities,
abasketballshow,salsadancing,andthemed
parties.  The RC was wonderful at
coordinating all the social components to
ensureeveryonegotatasteofSlovenia.The
RC also had a public health campaign on
human papillomavirus.Congressparticipants
reached out to the streets of Ljubljana and
the towns on the Slovenian coast to increase
the public’s awareness about the dangers of
InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010

informationbrochuresaswellasquizzes.This experience that participants would never

was the first time that a public health
campaign was held during a world congress
anditwasquitesuccessful.
forget.  I would like to thank my fellow
Executivemembers.AndonbehalfoftheIPSF
Executive 200910, a huge thanks to the
Urban and his entire RC team.  All of the
Slovenians were extremely hospitable and
youensuredweallfelttheloveinSlovenia.

Of course, there were the traditional events

of IPSF, the Development Fund (DF) Auction
and International Night. The Auction night
successfullyraisedmoneyfortheDFbyselling
various items from the different countries.
This was followed by the International Night,
wheretheExecutivetrieddancingtoShakira’s
“WakaWaka.”Allthecountriesalsobrought
treats to share with everyone else; this was
trulyaninternationalevent. 

And because words are not enough to

describethisamazingevent,dovisittheIPSF
Facebookpageforpictureandvideos.

Finally,onbehalfoftheentireIPSFExecutive
2009–2010,wewouldliketocongratulate
theincomingexecutiveteam.Wewishyou
thebestofluckfortheupcomingyear.

 Vivelapharmacie!
Before we knew it, it was the gala night and ShirleyYeung
time for everyone to say farewell.  It was ChairpersonofProfessionalDevelopment200910
tiringjourney,butanamazingoneandIhave
lovedeverysecondofit. 

“Taste it! Live it! Never forget it!”  This was 

the theme for this congress and I have been
hearing this since the Romania congress.  I
havetosay,theRCsuccessfullyachievedwhat
they have strived for as this was an


InternationalPharmaceuticalStudents’Federation
NewsBulletin|2010