The Hague • 17 September 2024
Today, on World Patient Safety Day, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) launches a curriculum for addressing the risk of substandard and falsified (SF) medical products sold online. The curriculum is presented in a FIP handbook for educators.
The handbook explains that SF medical products threaten patient safety, pose challenges to treat infections such as malaria and antimicrobial resistant diseases, result in a lack of public trust in healthcare systems and disrupt economic advancement, yet there is a lack of awareness knowledge about them. Educating healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, students and the public is of great importance to avoid the use of SF medical products, FIP says. The federation already offers educational resources on SF medical products, such as an online course for pharmacy students, launched in 2021.
“In recent years, patients and caregivers have increasingly used websites and social media to obtain medical products. Self-diagnosis and self-prescription have increased the use of illegal online drug sellers where SF medical products are sold. Identifying SF medical products is difficult for patients and healthcare professionals. Similarly, identifying legal online pharmacies can be challenging for patients and healthcare professionals alike. Gaps in knowledge and skills in undergraduate students remain, as most courses may not cover the online sale of SF medical products,” said Dr John Hertig, executive committee member of FIP’s Hospital Pharmacy Section, who led the development of the handbook.
The new handbook focuses on online sources of these products. It provides teaching materials, resources and practical guidance to prepare pharmacy undergraduates for practice so that they can support public safety.
Notes for editors
About FIP The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global federation of national associations of pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacy educators, and is in official relations with the World Health Organization. Through its 160 member organisations, it represents over four million practitioners and scientists around the world. www.fip.org Notes for editors
PRESS CONTACT
Ms Laila Ghorab
Communications Coordinator
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
Email laila@fip.org