The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria-Young Pharmacists Group.

By Ikwaibom Umoiyoho

With the realization that young people are not just the future of Nigeria and the pharmacy profession but that they are Nigeria today and the soul of the pharmacy profession, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in 2012 established the Young Pharmacists’ Group (YPG) following the restructuring of the Young Pharmacists’ Forum (YPF).

This sub-group of PSN is modeled after the Young Pharmacists’ Group of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP-YPG) with the mission to help develop individuals who can act as agents of positive change at local, national, and international levels, both within the profession and in the larger society based on the spirit of national cooperation towards sustainable development. In October last year, PSN acknowledged YPG as an interest group thereby giving her the new identity, PSN-YPG

THE LONG DUE FIGHT AGAINST DRUG ABUSE IN NIGERIA

In 2018, PSN-YPG launched the Youth Against Drug Abuse (YADA) campaign in partnership with the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

NAFDAC-YADA is a massive nationwide project which aims at sensitizing the populace, most especially youths on the dangers of drug abuse. Currently we have pilots in at least one state in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.

The goal of the project is to reduce by half, the prevalence of alcohol abuse, cigarette use, irrational use of prescription drugs and illegal drug use among st secondary school students by intensifying awareness creation among the selected population on the dangers of drug abuse which will in turn limit individual exposures and risks to drug abuse.

The project has five (5) key components which are prevention education series, individual and group counseling, positive parenting, referral, and stakeholders’ meeting. One year after the project launch, we have been able to reach out to more than 500,000 students nationwide.

We are hopeful that the future we desire is right before us. PSN-YPG is working hard to ensure that in the shortest time possible, the challenges of young pharmacists will be reduced to the barest minimum and we are also working to ensure better healthcare for Nigerian citizens through combined efforts of young pharmacists and other health stakeholders.

Having keyed into IT opportunities by virtue of training and entrepreneurial incorporation, we are hopeful that young pharmacists will harness health technology skills towards providing improved and quality healthcare services to the society.