“From research to health care: Your pharmacist is at your service” is the theme of this year’s World Pharmacists Day.

“This theme was chosen to reflect the numerous contributions the pharmacy profession makes to health. From research and development of medicines, to educating future pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, and providing direct care, we do all this in the service of our patients and communities,” said FIP President Dr Carmen Peña.

“We want to emphasise that pharmacists are the backbone of health care in many different settings. But providing care does not begin in community or hospital pharmacies. Taking care of patients starts with recognising the health issues of populations and developing medicines, policies and education to tackle them. We pharmacists are often there at the very beginning of the process — when the first molecule that effectively treats a disease is identified,” Dr Peña added.

World Pharmacists Day is used by FIP’s members and others around the globe to highlight the value of the pharmacy profession and impact on improving health to authorities, other professions and the media, as well as to the general public. FIP has produced resources for this year’s campaign in the six official United Nations languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. These include an animation and other materials for print and social media.

FIP is inviting pharmacists to support World Pharmacists Day by creating profile pictures for their social media accounts using the official FIP Twibbon or a specially designed “Your pharmacist is at your service” placard. The materials are available  at www.fip.org/worldpharmacistsday