Recap of FIP World Congress 2019 in Abu Dhabi

By Diana Ching (FIP YPG Public Relations Officer)

The 79th FIP World Congress 2019 in Abu Dhabi was held 22–26 September at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The theme of Congress was “New horizons for pharmacy — Navigating winds of change.”

Leadership Development Workshop

The 2nd YPG Leadership Development Workshop included 33 participants from China Taiwan, France, Ghana, Jordan, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Netherlands, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. Applicants were required to submit their application of interest and were selected based on various criteria, including their motivation for participation and past leadership experience. Topics covered included project management skills, communication skills, value of servant, ethical, and volunteer leadership, and succession planning. If you are interested in attending the LDW in Seville in 2020, please follow our Congress updates for next year.

Left: LDW Participants with John Ly (Chair of LDW), Toyin Tofade (Secretary of Academic Pharmacy Section), and current YPG Steering Committee Officers, Carolyn Dewart (Chair of YPG), Sherly Meilianti (YPG Projects Coordinator), and Diana Ching (Public Relations Officer). Right: LDW Participants with speakers, the FIP President (Dominique Jordan), and FIP CEO (Catherine Duggan)

YPG-IPSF Night

Every year there is a young pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, and pharmacy students social event occurring at Congress. This year, it was hosted at the Pacifico Tiki Dining & Lounge Bar. Tickets were sold out again this year and there was a lot of socializing, networking and of course, dancing! Be sure to buy your ticket in advance when you register for Congress, as tickets are limited due to venue capacity and are often sold out prior to the start of Congress.

YPG Night at Pacifico Tiki Dining & Lounge Bar

YPG Business Meetings

At the first business meeting of Congress 2019, the Steering Committee shared their annual reports of activities, projects, and future projects for their respective role. In addition, 2 motions were passed regarding membership structure and including in the statutes, a more specific definition of individuals within the FIP Young Pharmacists Group.

Membership Structure Evaluation Motion (passed)

Left: Sherly Meilianti (YPG Projects Coordinator) presents annual report. Right: Diana Ching (YPG Public Relations Officer) presents annual report.

During the second business meeting, the YPG Professional Innovation Grant recipients presented on their research projects. Mr. John Ware, Chairman of the FIP Foundation, presented the award to Shepard Nqobile Mhlaba (Zimbabwe), the 2019 winner of the grant. Shepard explained his research topic, which aims to improve access to medicines and also to give a step towards universal health coverage by ensuring effective use of available scarce resources. Jack Collins (Australia), was awarded the grant in 2018 to support his research project, which explored whether implicit (unconscious) racial bias is present in practising community pharmacists through the use of simulated patients. He presented the results of his research project.

Shepard Nqobile Mhlaba (Zimbabwe) shares his proposed research project.

John Ware (Chairman of FIP Foundation) presents the €1000 YPG Professional Innovation Grant to Jack Collins (Australia).

Following the presentations of the YPG Professional Innovation Grant awardees, YPG members listened to and voted for the upcoming 2020 YPG Steering Committee. While there were many highly qualified candidates, the final results were the following:

• President: Sherly Meilianti (Indonesia/UK)
• President-Elect: Renly Lim (Australia)
• Secretary: Grace Armah (Ghana)
• Chairperson of Projects: Ayodeji Matuluko (Nigeria/UK)
• Chairperson of Public Relations: Funmbi Okoya (Nigeria)

From Left to Right: Ayodeji Matuluko (Chairperson of Projects), Renly Lim (President-Elect), Sherly Meilianti (President), Grace Armah (Secretary), Funmbi Okoya (Chairperson of Public Relations)

Other Congress Activities and Events

YPG members attended, presented and chaired various sessions throughout Congress:

• Act now! How pharmacists can help in the global refugee crisis (YPG Alumnus/Member Speakers/Chairs: Miranda Sertic, Miranda Law)
• Tackling the equity issue: Global challenges for women in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences (YPG Alumnus/Member Speakers/Chairs: Ema Paulino, Israel Bimpe)
• Working together to score the goals: How are the FIP Workforce Development Goals being globally implemented? (YPG Alumnus/Member Speakers/Chairs: Aniekan Ekpenyong, Sherly Meilianti)
• Superdrugs for superbugs: Antibiotics of the future (YPG Alumnus/Member Speakers/Chairs: Prateek Jain, Cody Midlam)
• The Ethics Forum — What does it mean to exercise “conscientious objection”? (YPG Alumnus/Member Speakers/Chairs: Sami Isaac)
• The power of working together: Successful stories of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (YPG Member Speaker/Chair: Sherly Meilianti)

Many of the YPG members gathered for dinners and other social events, including the closing dinner, held at the Emirates Palace.

If you were unable to attend this Congress, there are more opportunities to come! Next year, Congress will be held in Seville, Spain (more information can be found here), then 2022’s World Congress will be held in Brisbane, Australia, and 2023’s World Congress will be held in Cape Town, South Africa. We hope to see you there!