The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has launched a campaign supporting the victims of the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, it announced last week (September 4). 

The union attended the annual International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) congress in Cape Town, South Africa and announced the ‘Medicines to Gaza’ campaign on September 3 during one of the congress’ events. 

Read more: Pharmacist fully funds new health centre in Syria with £54k donation

A PDA spokesperson said further developments on how the campaign will launch in the UK will come soon, but it will involve “posters appealing for donations from members of the public … appearing in pharmacy windows and other locations”. 

"This is just the start"

It confirmed the national pharmacy organisations that have agreed to support the PDA in its ‘Medicines to Gaza’ campaign and participated in “an emotional signing ceremony at the FIP congress” are:  

• The Egyptian Organisation for Pharmacy 

• The Jordanian Pharmacists’ Association 

• The Malaysian Pharmacists’ Society 

• The Medicines to Africa Campaign – South Africa 

• The Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon 

PDA chairman Mark Koziol said “this is just the start” and he is “enormously proud that we have been able to persuade FIP and the national pharmacy leadership organisations from across four different regions of the world to join this important initiative. 

“This gives significant capacity for our profession to work together to bring humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza,” he added. 

Read more: Pharmacist raises £1.5k in memory of her father

The Jordan Pharmacists’ Association Dr Salah Shubair said “this collaboration underscores our shared humanity and our collective professional and ethical responsibilities to support communities torn by humanitarian crises”. 

After the signing ceremony, the PDA claim “several other countries immediately confirmed that they would be joining the programme in the very near future”. 

Support beyond Gaza and Ukraine

The campaign follows on from the ‘Medicines to Ukraine’ campaign “initiated by the European Association of Employed Community Pharmacists in Europe” (EPhEU) in 2022, according to FIP. 

The PDA represents the UK in the EPhEU and Koziol is the organisation’s secretary general, as the Ukraine campaign fundraised “more than £4.5 million for medicines for Ukraine”, it said. 

Read more: Former Boots pharmacy to reopen on uni campus

Following on from that campaign, the PDA joined FIP in 2022 and “came with a proposition to FIP, which was that the ‘Medicines To’ campaign could be adapted for use in many continents”. 

FIP confirmed it “ratified” this model to work on similar schemes “based on a model of partnership with charity organisations in areas affected by emergencies and disasters and raising funds for medicines through pharmacies”. 

The ‘Medicines to’ initiative is now a part of FIP’s HumanityRx programme and was formally launched at last week’s congress, and the PDA confirmed some African organisations who signed up to it at last year’s FIP congress were: 

• The Egyptian Organisation for Pharmacy 

• Medicines To Africa – South Africa 

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana 

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya 

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Malawi 

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria 

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Tanzania 

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe. 

At the same signing ceremony where the Gaza campaign was announced, FIP said an agreement for the ‘Medicines to Africa’ campaign was signed by FIP Community Pharmacy Section Executive Committee member Sham Moodley on behalf of several organisations in South Africa, Pharmacists Without Borders UK, and FIP which can be seen here. 

Read more: NPA vice chair on ‘Save Our Pharmacies’ protest: ‘I’m an eternal optimist’

Moodley said “pharmacists and their teams have played multiple roles from service provision to logistics and support in disaster areas.  

“The ‘Medicines To’ campaign provides us an opportunity to support and expand that role and ensure that we are able to deliver medicines in areas of need when the situation demands”, he added. 

FIP vice president Daragh Connoly thanked Koziol for the launch of the “the ‘Medicines To’ initiative because without the visionary leadership that pharmacist colleagues, like Mark and the fantastic team that he has assembled, none of this would have happened”.