International Pharmacy

CPhA is active in the international pharmacy arena mainly through its participation in FIP, Pharmintercom and the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association.

View our 2007 International Meetings Report

International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)

FIP is a worldwide federation of national pharmaceutical (professional and scientific) associations, with a mission to represent and serve pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences around the globe. Through its member organizations, FIP connects, represents and serves more than a million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists around the world.

CPhA is a member organization of FIP. This gives CPhA a seat on the governing Council of FIP, and based on our membership numbers, this seat carries seven votes. The CPhA President is our official delegate to the FIP Council and attends the annual FIP Congress.

The FIP Congress takes place annually in early September. The 2007 FIP Congress was held September 1–6 in Beijing, China.

Pharmintercom

Pharmintercom is an annual meeting of eight English-speaking national pharmacy associations from seven countries to discuss issues of current and best practices in community pharmacy practice and profession-wide development. The members are:

Most of the Pharmintercom members play a major role in government negotiations on behalf of community pharmacy. The annual meetings are attended by the CEOs and elected Presidents of each association and take place either before or after the FIP Congress. The location of the meetings rotates among member countries and the President of the host country acts as the chair of the meeting. CPhA has hosted Pharmintercom three times—in 1993 in Vancouver, in 1997 in Victoria, and in 2004 in Montréal.

In 2004, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia briefed the Pharmintercom representatives on a pilot project it had funded to establish the Pharmaceutical International Network (PIN) to facilitate increased communication and collaboration between policy makers and researchers of community pharmacy practice. The PIN website facilitates rapid knowledge exchange, increased understanding, and new forms of partnership across countries and between network members.

Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA)

CPA is a non-government organization representing professional pharmaceutical societies from over 40 Commonwealth countries. CPA is made up of six geographical regions across the Commonwealth: Eastern & Southern Africa; West Africa; Americas; Pacific; Central Asia and Europe. CPhA is a member organization of CPA and sends a representative to attend the annual CPA Americas Region conference. The full CPA Council meets every four years and in 2007 the CPA conference was held August 1–5 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

American Pharmacists Association (APhA)

CPhA often works in collaboration with APhA. Annual joint meetings are held involving elected officers and selected senior staff; the meeting venue alternates between the respective offices. CPhA and APhA exchange complimentary registrations for their respective AGMs.