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to homecare. In order to promote homecare a plan was developed in 2012 named action plan of home care promotion . It has been implemented and has shifted into seeking cooperation with various professionals and other organisations.

The new BPharm (Hon) degree programme in Namibia has been informed by stakeholders and the MOHSS, ensuring its relevance to national strategy. Where no pharmacy education has existed to date, the focus is naturally to create a locally trained and sustainable workforce that will meet the country s demands. The outcome will be a generalist pharmacist that will catalyse the difference fields of expertise required in future post-graduate education.

In the Philippines the Technical Committee on Pharmacy Education under the Commission on Higher Education makes sure that the minimum standards are met and complied with by pharmacy schools. While the number of graduates has increased significantly over the past three years, it is still not sufficient to meet domestic industry demands. A national career advocacy plan had been drafted by the Board of Pharmacy and will be disseminated to career advocates to attract high school graduates to take up pharmacy.

The strategy of pharmaSuisse is based on competency, quality and services. Pharmacists engage in national disease prevention programmes (e.g. vaccination, colon cancer screening) acquire new competencies with a federally acknowledged specialisation title and can then triage and treat patients with identified diseases as a primary care point using standardised guidelines.

The changes in pharmacy education are aligned with health reform priorities in the USA (both public and private health sectors). The US has embraced the triple aim of: a) better care of individuals; b) improved health of populations; and c) lower overall health care costs as the mantra for health reform. Pharmacy and medication management fits with these priorities due to the centrality of medication use and ensuring it is safe, effective and efficient care is delivered, as well as prevention.

Thai pharmacy education transitioned to a six year PharmD, which has required cooperation between faculties of pharmacy, the Pharmacy Council and the Ministry of Public Health in order to prepare policy for pharmacy professional administration in the health care system, for example, career structure for progression and advancement, and salary revision. The pharmacists role in Chile was included in the national policy on medicines implemented in April 2004, the reason why it has been important that the pharmacy curriculum is based on both professional and general competencies.

4.3.4 Accreditation and quality assurance

There has been a global drive for improving quality assurance and accreditation systems in pharmacy education. The strategy of pharmaSuisse is based on the following three pillars: Competency, Quality and Services. Competency is assured by providing the necessary basic education in the university and the possibility of acquiring new competencies by postgraduate (titles, certificates and continuing education accredited courses, blended learning, distance learning, e-learning, etc). In the UK, current education arrangements are: a 4-year undergraduate degree [MPharm accredited by the profession s regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)] followed by a separate year of pre-registration practice-based training leading to registration as a pharmacist with the GPhC. The process of becoming a pharmacist is thus divided into two parts and completely separate in terms of curriculum, quality assurance and outcomes. This creates a gap in how the concept of professionalism is managed, and the MPC s proposal to change to a five year integrated course (with two six-month placements) and concomitant graduation and registration, would bridge this gap.

All the pharmacy programmes, in Malaysia, are subjected to accreditation by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) and the Pharmacy Board of Malaysia (PBM). MQA is a statutory body under the Ministry of Higher Education and works very closely with PBM on quality standards assessment of pharmacy programmes in the country.

Almost every institution In Saudi Arabia is planning to design their curriculum as per the standards set down by Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Moreover, extensive training programmes like Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) and Advance Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) have also been introduced to ensure the clinical competency-based education to meet the national and global needs of the profession. In addition, some institutions are also benchmarking their PharmD programme with the Canadian Pharmacy Accreditation Council with an aim to seek certification in Canada. Jordan has implemented a national accreditation system for the newly formed faculties of pharmacy; the two older public schools are exempt from this. The accreditation system is designed to control and provide a basis for positive competition among the schools in order to refine the quality of education/service they provide to students.

As the BPharm degree has now been accredited both by the professional and educational regulator, Namibia considers their future pharmacists to be the gold-standard of practice, research and innovation in dealing with the health and social needs of the country.