
EquityRx Events

Reducing Inequities in the Health and Pharmacy Workforce: The Importance of Maternity and Parental Leave Policies
30 May 2024Pregnant women and mothers often encounter bias by being viewed as inconveniences or liabilities by their employers.
Their ability to perform quality work is also presumed to be compromised due to their pregnancy or motherhood responsibilities. Insufficient support and workplace policies exacerbate these challenges, including the absence of flexible work arrangements and adequate accommodations like maternity leave.
These inequities impact women across various sectors; however, they are particularly evident within the health and pharmacy workforce since women represent over 70% of the workforce in the health and social sectors1. To address these issues and inequities, it is crucial to challenge and dismantle the gender biases and stereotypes that perpetuate discrimination against pregnant women and mothers. EquityRx and FIPWiSE (Women in Science and Education) are hosting a digital event to highlight and address some of these issues, particularly those related to maternity leave policies.

E-labelling & Digital Transformation in Pharmacy
18 April 2024E-labelling, also known as electronic labelling, represents a significant step towards digital transformation in providing medication information electronically rather than through traditional paper information leaflets (PILs).
At the 2023 FIP Congress in Brisbane, Australia, an insight board was convened to delve into the value, benefits, and barriers associated with e-labelling, its role in promoting health equity and equitable access to health information as well as the role of pharmacists in facilitating e-labelling adoption. Subsequently, a report summarising key insights and recommendations from the board was produced. FIP is hosting a digital event to build on the results of the report and to further explore e-labelling as a solution for improving accessibility and equity in health information, whilst also addressing challenges associated with the technology and regulatory aspects.

Gender Equity in the Health Workforce: Accelerating progress
8 March 2024Gender inequities persist in the pharmaceutical and health workforce, hindering the professional growth and opportunities for women.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also disproportionately affected women in the workforce, magnifying these inequities which may in turn lead to women leaving the health workforce.
In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024, themed ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’, FIP will host an event to delve into the challenges faced by women in these sectors, shedding light on gender equity gaps and advocating for inclusive practices. The event will feature a report by Women in Global Health, emphasising the importance of addressing these disparities, exacerbated by the pandemic, for the advancement of gender equity.

FIPWiSE Interview Series
10 January 2024
accination: Benefits beyond specific disease prevention - Part 4
23 October 2023This is the 4th and final episode in the FIP series ‘Vaccination: Benefits beyond specific disease prevention’ which aimed to highlight the extensive advantages of vaccination beyond merely guarding against specific pathogens in older adults.

Vaccination: Benefits beyond specific disease prevention - Part 3
13 September 2023Part 3 will focus on the burden of diseases and the risks and costs of not widening access to vaccination.

Vaccination: Benefits beyond specific disease prevention - Part 2
31 August 2023
Vaccination: Benefits beyond specific disease prevention - Part 1
21 August 2023This webinar – Part 1 - will delve into technical and evidence-based insights on positive downstream effects of vaccines in older adults including that on cardiovascular events and diseases, diabetes or arthritis.

Enabling life-course immunisation through pharmacy-based vaccination: Launch of a new FIP Pandemic Preparedness report
16 August 2023
Enabling life-course immunisation through pharmacy-based vaccination: Launch of a new FIP policy toolkit
26 July 2023
Health and self-care literacy for the management of minor ailments in the pharmacy - Reflux management, Heart burn and indigestion
30 May 2023Part of the "shaping the future of self-care through pharmacy" programme aims to understand the clinical aspects and health literacy needs with regard to reflux management, heartburn, and indigestion.
In addition to identifying strategies for pharmacists to enable health and self-care literacy in reflux management, heartburn, and indigestion. It also focuses on discussing enablers across education and training, care protocols and services, access to patient information, and referral strategies.

Health literacy and self-care for the management of minor ailments in the pharmacy - Sore throat, cough, cold and flu management
9 May 2023Empowering patient self-care improves health outcomes and reduces the burden of diseases.
Improving health and self-care literacy is key to empowering pharmacy-based self-care. This is especially important when it comes to the management of minor ailments through pharmacy. Consisting of a series of five events focusing on common health issues, this new FIP digital programme aims to examine how pharmacists can be enabled to improve health and self-care literacy. Approaches for each of the five areas of minor ailments will be discussed including embedding health and self-care literacy into education and training, developing self-diagnosis and self-medication protocols, widening access to patient information, and improving referral strategies.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: Pharmacy teams and all healthcare workers
9 May 2023Among the different special-risk groups for vaccine-preventable diseases, healthcare professionals are in contact with multiple patients daily and are therefore at increased risk of contracting and further spreading vaccine-preventable diseases.

Health and self-care literacy for the management of minor ailments in the pharmacy - Children's fever management
19 April 2023Part of the "shaping the future of self-care through pharmacy" programme aims to understand the clinical aspects and health literacy needs with regard to children's fever.
In addition to identifying strategies for pharmacists to enable health and self-care literacy in children's fever. It also focuses on discussing enablers across education and training, care protocols and services, access to patient information, and referral strategies.

Health land self-care literacy for the management of minor ailments in the pharmacy - Body pain management
29 March 2023Part of the "shaping the future of self-care through pharmacy" programme which aims to:
1) Understand the key clinical issues and literacy needs when it comes to the management of body pain.
2) Identify strategies for pharmacists to enable health and self-care literacy in the management of body pain.
3) Discuss enablers across education and training, care protocols and services, access to patient information and referral strategies.

Health and self-care literacy for the management of minor ailments in the pharmacy: Women's intimate wellness and health
8 March 2023This event aims to:
- Understand the key issues and literacy needs when it comes to intimate well-being and health in women.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: Pregnant individuals
22 February 2023
Reflecting on successes and looking to the future: Showcase of the FIP Women in Science and Education Programme
14 February 2023To celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the FIPWiSE programme, a special event titled Reflecting on Successes and looking to the Future: Showcase of the FIP Women in Science and Education Programme was conducted on 14 February 2023.

Enabling life-course immunisation through pharmacy-based vaccination: Access to data and vaccination records
3 February 2023
The role of pharmacists in closing the gender pain gap
27 January 2023Research has shown that women may receive less intensive, less effective and lower quality treatment due to stereotyped responses attributed to women, such as dramatising, overemphasising their experiences of pain, being more willing to report pain, inaccurately reporting pain or being less tolerant to pain than men.
It results in the underestimation and undertreatment of women’s pain worldwide. This is often referred to as the “gender pain gap”.
Regarding the gender pain gap, self-awareness and training are not issues owned only by pharmacists; they should be shared with all healthcare professionals and the public.
Pharmacists can be supported to address the gender pain gap through education and partnerships. A good understanding of the variety of pain symptoms can support unbiased pain management. Pharmacists also have a responsibility to educate the public on where and how to seek help for pain management, thus further addressing the gender pain gap.
The event aims to
- Define the gender pain gap
- Increase awareness about gender pain gap
- Describe how pharmacists can be supported to address the issue
- Describe the knowledge and training for pharmacists to close the gender pain gap

Enabling life-course immunisation through pharmacy-based vaccination: Regulations and prescribing
18 January 2023This event is delivered as part of a new FIP programme supported by Pfizer, which aims to provide FIP members with approaches and tools for tackling key policy enablers that determine equity, access and sustainability of pharmacy-based life-course immunisation.
It will feature a number of pharmacy leadership bodies describing how pharmacy-based vaccination, including prescribing, is regulated in their countries.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: roundtable summit
7 December 2022The final event in the FIP series focuses on the vaccination needs of special-risk population groups through an intersectoral roundtable.
In addition, launching a summary publication and a series of short videos to support pharmacists’ role in raising awareness and building confidence in vaccines and in promoting convenient access to vaccinations.

Enabling life-course immunisation through pharmacy-based vaccination: Service remuneration models
6 December 2022This event is delivered as part of a new FIP programme supported by Pfizer, which aims to provide our members with approaches and tools for tackling key policy enablers that determine equity, access and sustainability of pharmacy-based life-course immunisation.
It will feature a number of pharmacy leadership bodies sharing their remuneration models and journeys for the benefit of policy-enablement everywhere.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: Diabetes
14 November 2022Among the different special-risk groups for vaccine-preventable diseases, people living with diabetes have particular vaccination needs that will be highlighted in this event.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: Older adults
30 September 2022Among different special-risk population groups, older adults have specific vaccination needs that will be discussed in this event.

Achieve equitable, inclusive and quality pharmaceutical education for all: Launch of the FIP toolkit for addressing inequities in pharmaceutical education
9 September 2022FIP research indicates that inequities in pharmaceutical education need to be addressed, and this FIP toolkit for addressing inequities in pharmaceutical education intends to motivate, assess, and inform forward-thinking changes targeted at transforming pharmaceutical education through addressing inequities globally, across all regions and locally.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: Cardiovascular diseases
21 July 2022Among the different special-risk population groups, people living with cardiovascular diseases have particular vaccination needs that will be highlighted in this event.

Vaccines & special-risk groups: Chronic Respiratory Conditions
29 June 2022
Sustainable and equitable access to vaccines: Establishing priorities and setting policies in the African region
4 November 2021This event focuses on the regional needs and drivers for transforming vaccination in the African region.
This involves identifying priorities in the region’s countries with regards to equity and access to vaccinations. Barriers and challenges and regional needs in relation to policy setting will also be discussed.

Sustainable and equitable access to vaccines: Establishing priorities and setting policies in the Western Pacific region
28 October 2021This event focuses on the regional needs and drivers for transforming vaccination in the Western Pacific region.
This involves identifying priorities in the region’s countries with regards to equity and access to vaccinations. Barriers and challenges and regional needs in relation to policy setting will also be discussed.

Sustainable and equitable access to vaccines: Establishing priorities and setting policies in the South East Asian region
26 October 2021This event focuses on the regional needs and drivers for transforming vaccination in the South East Asian region.
This involves identifying priorities in the region’s countries with regards to equity and access to vaccinations. Barriers and challenges and regional needs in relation to policy setting will also be discussed.

Sustainable and equitable access to vaccines: Establishing priorities and setting policies in the European region
14 October 2021This event focuses on the regional needs and drivers for transforming vaccination in the European region.
This involves identifying priorities in the region’s countries with regards to equity and access to vaccinations. Barriers and challenges and regional needs in relation to policy setting will also be discussed.

Sustainable and equitable access to vaccines: Establishing priorities and setting policies in the Eastern Mediterranean region
7 October 2021This event focuses on the regional needs and drivers for transforming vaccination in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
This involves identifying priorities in the region’s countries with regards to equity and access to vaccinations. Barriers and challenges and regional needs in relation to policy setting will also be discussed.

Sustainable and equitable access to vaccines: Establishing priorities and setting policies in the Americas region
30 September 2021This event focuses on the regional needs and drivers for transforming vaccination in the Americas.
This involves identifying priorities in the region’s countries with regards to equity and access to vaccinations. Barriers and challenges and regional needs in relation to policy setting will also be discussed.

Working together across systems to transform vaccination policy: working with others in our professions, with other disciplines and agencies to establish sustainable policies
23 September 2021This event will focus on intra and interprofessional alliances to ensure that we can work together to deliver the areas of policy addressed in this series.
Panelists will also discuss working together with other agencies and policymakers to establish sustainable policies on vaccines access and equity, including how pharmacy can be a force of good in supporting vaccinations for all health workers.

Health illiteracy and vaccine misinformation as determinants for equity: developing policies to establish access to quality information in an equitable way
26 August 2021This event will have a focus on the issues around health literacy and access to information.

Vaccinations and the genders: Examining inequities in gender access and handling of vaccinations globally to inform pharmacy policy
10 August 2021Episode 3 examines inequities in gender access to vaccines to inform pharmacy policy.
Various angles to vaccinations and the gender will be discussed including general gender access, terms of empowering women as caregivers to support vaccinations, the impact of COVID-19 on gender inequity, and the issues around gender inequity in the workforce (which is especially important to discuss in 2020 Year of the Health Worker).

Equity, access & sustainability through life’s ages and stages: Enabling a life course-approach to vaccination
8 July 2021The panelists in this event will focus on age and explore vaccines equity and access through life’s ages and stages – from childhood (including pregnancy) to later adulthood – from a pharmacy perspective.
They will focus on setting out the policy issues and immediate next steps, determining what pharmacy needs to do to singularly affect the most change in this area.

Introducing the FIP ‘Transforming Vaccination Globally, Regional and Nationally’ 2021: Accelerating equity, access and sustainability through policy development and implementation
17 June 2021The first episode of the programme will set the stage for the entire programme.
This event will revisit the key outcomes of the Transforming Vaccination 2020 programme, specifically focusing on the outcomes relating to shaping policy around equity, access and sustainability and how they are shaping the FIP vaccination agenda for 2021. It will also describe the programme, and outline its key aims and objectives as well as outcomes.
Challenging the Narrative on Leadership in Gender Equity during the COVID-19 Pandemic
11 June 2021This panel discussion aimed to:
Provide relevant information and interim guidelines for pharmacists and the pharmacy workforce on Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic.
- Share and discuss strategies adopted by pharmacy leaders and workers – including our Member Organisations – in response to the pandemic.
- Engage frontline workers of the health and pharmacy workforce to know about the realities facing them around the world.
- Discuss the implications of the pandemic on issues such as safety, supply, shortages that have been exacerbated by COVID-19, across our nations and regions. lina@fip.org
- Consider the impact of this disease on patients across age groups and with concurrent conditions.
- Assess and discuss the evidence behind treatments and the process of developing therapies, vaccines and tests.

The role of pharmacist vaccinators in improving access to and equality in healthcare outcomes: FIP DG 10 Equity & equality and FIP DG 18 Access to Medicines & Services
17 November 2020FIP is excited to announce a new initiative entitled “Transforming Vaccination Globally and Regionally.
” This initiative involves a three-part series of 8 online events each, and is the first FIP transformational outcome-based online programme of its kind, culminating in the signing of a historical commitment by FIP and member organisations to transform vaccinations globally and regionally.
In this episode – “Pharmacist Vaccinators as a way to improve access to medicines” – is an interview format that focuses on the FIP Development Goal 18: Access to Medicines and Services from the perspective of vaccination by the pharmacist as well as FIP Development Goal 10 Equality and Equity. The role of pharmacists in ensuring that vaccinations are widely and easily accessible by all people in all areas of the world, and the expertise of pharmacists in delivering the logistics and services needed to increase vaccination rates.

FIP Development Goal 10: Equity & equality for pharmacy now
24 September 2020The new FIP Development Goals which have just launched are set to transform global pharmacy by providing a systematic and integrated framework that can support the transformation of pharmacy practice, science and workforce &
education. Of the 21 Goals, FIP Development Goal 10 impacts us all. The Equity & Equality Goal calls for clear strategies to address inequalities in the pharmaceutical workforce, widen access and equity of pharmaceutical care services & access, as well equity in global capacity in pharmaceutical sciences development. Together we will deconstruct Goal 10 for pharmacy, discuss ways we can implement them and how FIP-EquityRx (FIP’s programme on Equity & Equality) is supporting FIP DG 10’s global implementation.

FIPWiSE Women’s Leadership Lab
1 September 2020Women are powerful agents of change, and the benefits and effectiveness of equitable representation in leadership and decision-making are evident.
To discuss the under-representation of women in decision-making processes, FIPWiSE organised an influential virtual leadership lab alongside the FIP Virtual 2020 Congress. We featured the following inspirational speakers:
- Meltem Agduk, gender programme coordinator at the United Nations Population Fund, Turkey;
- Nadia Abdelhadi, North Africa country manager, Medtronic, Algeria;
- Christina Chai, head of pharmacy department, National University of Singapore, Singapore;
- Leonora O’Brien, founder & CEO, Pharmapod, Ireland;
- Vibhuti Arya Amirfar, associate clinical professor at St John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and clinical advisor to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, USA; and
- Aya Jamal, president, International Pharmaceutical Students Federation, Sudan.

Addressing Inequities in Pharmacy Education due to COVID19–Learnings from Africa,Asia &Latin America
5 August 2020The COVID-19 pandemic has brought much attention to the gaps and challenges in all world systems including the educational sphere.
Inequities in education have not been new to the world but due to the pandemic, there have been greater disparities in education and training of the pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences students globally. Inequities arising from socioeconomic standing, infrastructural differences, policies, student welfarism, race, gender or disabilities of individuals, academic institutions and countries will be discussed during this session. The session seeks to highlight how these inequities affect the process of pharmacy education, and provide good practices from colleagues in Africa, Asia and Latin America. At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify the existing inequities in pharmacy education
- Learn good practices to curb different inequalities affecting pharmacy education due to COVID-19
- Strengthen advocacy efforts for all-inclusive educational policies and resources

FIPWiSE Web Panel: “COVID-19: Women front and centre”
1 June 2020
The FIPWiSE Web Panel, part of FIP’s “Responding to the pandemic together” series, took place in June 2020.
The session was moderated by Claire Thompson, FIPWiSE chair (UK) and facilitated by Nilhan Uzman, lead for education policy and implementation, FIPWiSE programme lead (The Netherlands).
Featured in the web panel were a diverse group of panellists:
- Mariam El Boakye-Gyasi, senior lecturer, academic capacity lead, FIPWiSE member (Ghana);
- Ecehan Balta, senior advisor to the president, Turkish Pharmacists Association, FIPWiSE member (Turkey);
- Rajani Shakya, head, Kathmandu University, AIM Advisory Committee member; FIPWiSE member (Nepal); and
- Anyango Esther, intern, hospital pharmacist, FIPWiSE member and intern (Kenya).