Pharmacy professionals have 'ethical responsibility' to mitigate climate risks to health
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has called for action on climate change, with a particular emphasis on environmental sustainability within pharmacy.
In a policy statement published this week, FIP emphasised that pharmacy practice and medicines cause greenhouse gas emissions and pollution and therefore contribute to climate change and ecological damage and thus threaten human health.
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‘Given the role of pharmacy professionals in supporting health, these issues present the profession with ongoing challenges and an imperative to address environmental sustainability,’ it stated.
Expanding on its 2016 Green Pharmacy Practice statement on pharmaceutical pollution, the new policy highlights the need for mitigation and adaption measures across all pharmacy sectors and makes a number of recommendations for each sector to safeguard population health.
Dr Shellyza Moledina Sajwani, co-chair of FIP’s policy committee that developed the statement, said: ‘Pharmacy professionals have an ethical responsibility to mitigate climate and pollution risks to health throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain and across the spectrum of medication management. For example, optimised medicines management can mitigate the environmental footprint of healthcare within clinically appropriate deprescribing.
‘However, the profession must now also address climate adaptation to allow for the sustainability of pharmacy services in rapidly changing environments.’
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The policy sets out how pharmacy professionals in different settings can both mitigate the impact of medicines and their practice on the climate as well as adapt to a changing environment.
In particular, it says that community pharmacy professionals should mitigate the impact of medicines on the environment by:
- Advising patients on how to best use and dispose of medicines, including returning unused medicines to the pharmacy for disposal
- Supporting adherence in order to avoid medicines wastage
- Considering enrolling the pharmacy in a recycling programme
- Considering operational changes to reduce the carbon footprint of the pharmacy, including using renewable energy sources
- Collaborating with other healthcare professionals to optimise medicines use and support deprescribing where appropriate
And to help adapt to a changing world, they should:
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- Regularly update community pharmacy disaster plans and training for emergencies, extreme weather events and natural disasters
- Plan for unexpected medicines shortages related to extreme weather events and natural disasters by ensuring appropriate minimum and maximum stock levels
- Provide extended medication monitoring of at-risk patients during high-risk events, such as heat waves or periods of hazardous air quality
A version of this article first appeared on our sister title Hospital Pharmacy Europe.
It's is all well and nice to come up with these ideas and suggestions but should be addressed to the likes of venture capitalists to play their part. They seem to be the main culprits in the name of profits. As an example a UK online pharmacy wastes (destroys) in date medicines to the tune of £200000 each month. This leads or contributes to stock shortages and so price increases. Since its inception the waste not been addressed as options available affect the KPIs. This would be acceptable if the pharmacy made a profit but that will never happen. I would therefore advise the author to seek a visit to the pharmacy and experience the eye-watering waste first hand and then re write the article