Every September the pharmacy profession of South Africa celebrates Pharmacy Month. This is an opportunity for our profession to shine and to educate the public on the vital role we play in healthcare and our communities.
The theme for 2021 was Think Pharmacy – Quality Healthcare for All. The aim of this theme was to highlight the various services pharmacists and pharmacies offer to the public. We are not just purveyors of pills, we are highly trained healthcare professionals who help treat, advise and assist our patients in a variety of ways.
Once again, the pharmacy profession of South Africa accepted the challenge of celebrating Pharmacy Month and embarked on various campaigns highlighting our profession and its importance as part of a holistic healthcare team. Below we highlight some of the campaigns undertaken by the profession
FIP Zoom Newsletter, Community Pharmacy Section: Dr Sham Moodley
Former Council member, Dr Sham Moodley, who is also Vice-Chairperson of the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) and CPS ExCo Observer at International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), published an article reviewing Pharmacy Month, its impact and success in the FIP Zoom September 2021 Newsletter. You can read the article here.
Leratong Hospital Pharmacy
The team at Leratong Hospital Pharmacy had fun creating a video parody of Adele’s song “Hello”. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_nBQ9rAzJI. They also had t-shirts made for their whole team (see photo below) and celebrated the occasion with testing and information sessions at the hospital.
Kalafong Provincial Hospital
Kalafong Provincial Hospital hosted an event with a variety of speakers. And as you can see from the pictures below, the team had a great time educating their colleagues and patients.
Life Mt Edgecombe
Another fun spin on the theme this year was that of Life Mt Edgecombe’s pharmacy team. They decided to take a flight! From boarding passes to touchdown, the trip was full of fun and energy. There were competitions and games for staff members, posters shared and distributed to patients, an outreach programme to a local school, various internal training events, as well as a celebration for and of the amazing pharmacy team.
Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital
The Pharmacy team at Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital organised an event to observe both Pharmacy Month and World Pharmacist Day on 29 September 2021 and created awareness about Pharmacy Month and Pharmacy as a profession to both patients and colleagues within the hospital.
Figure 1: Isabella Mphuthi (Head of Pharmacy), presenting a gift to the Infection Control & Health & Safety Department
Figure 2: Isabella Mphuthi (Head of Pharmacy), presenting a gift to the HR department.
We would like to thank all pharmacy professionals for their tireless efforts to improve the health of our nation. The celebration of Pharmacy Month is about more than just educating the public, it is about appreciating the hard work and dedication of those who have chosen pharmacy as their career. We salute you all.
