“Do you know everything the pharmacist does for your health?” This is the motto of the health information and promotion campaign that, with the title Here’s a pharmacist… on the gothe Official College of Pharmacists of Madrid began today to bring citizens closer to some of the pharmaceutical services provided in the network of pharmacy offices of the Community of Madrid and that can contribute to a better approach to challenges of the health system such as prevention, chronicity and polypharmacy, among others.
Organized in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Sandoz, the initiative is supported by a large mobile unit that will tour different Madrid cities offering various services and free tests to the population. The objective is to go out to meet citizens to show on the street the care work that community pharmacists carry out daily to take care of the health of citizens, both in terms of prevention and healthy habits and in the proper use of drugs. medications.
The first stop of this tour pharmaceutical The region is Alcobendas, where the mobile unit will remain until tomorrow at the Valdelasfuentes Sports City between 10:00 and 18:00, with the support of the City Council. Local residents thus have the opportunity to approach the mobile unit staffed by volunteer pharmacists to learn about these professional services first-hand.
The mayor of Alcobendas, Rocío García Alcántaranoted during his visit to the mobile unit that “it is a pride that the Official College of Pharmacists and Sandoz have chosen Alcobendas to present the campaign Here’s a pharmacist on the go. It is our responsibility as a municipal government to ensure that all residents have access to quality health services, prevention programs, involved health professionals, immediate care, support, training, healthy environments…”
Useful pharmaceutical services for the population
Interested citizens can take a test for early detection and prevention of the risk of diabetes through the Findrisk test, determining blood glucose or measuring glycosylated hemoglobin and blood pressure.
Other tests that are made available to the population are the measurement of venous return, based on verification of the proper functioning of blood circulation, and body composition through lipid profile and triglyceride concentration.
The bone density of the calcaneus is also measured and the loss of bone mass and the risk of suffering from osteoporosis are studied.
Pharmacists also emphasize the importance of adherence and therapeutic compliance through personalized dosing systems (SPD), which the new Pharmacy Law of the Community of Madrid proposes to extend, and they influence the good management of inhalers and in the prevention of smoking to maintain good respiratory health.
The mobile unit also had a visit from the general director of Health Inspection and Planning of the Community of Madrid, Pilar Jimenowho supported the work of pharmacists. “We have seen the importance of pharmacists during the pandemic; They are an essential part of the health system, from prevention to the health services that are being provided in this campaign. We have to be collaborators,” he said today during the campaign inauguration.
The president of the COFM, Manuel Martínez del Peral, He stressed that “Madrid pharmacists have set out to bring our health services closer to the population and work together on prevention and health care, as well as on the proper use of medicines.” And he added: “Many times the population only knows the healthcare activity of community pharmacies related to the dispensing of medicine, but community pharmacists, in addition to proximity, have the knowledge to provide many more services that can contribute decisively to being part of the solution to the great current challenges of the health system, such as population aging, the increase in chronicity, polypharmacy and dependency, which require collaboration, prevention and adequate follow-up.
For his part, the commercial director of Sandoz Iberia, Ignacio Ortinpointed out that “with this project we seek to meet a clear objective; reach the patient in a close and direct way, through a professional as important as the pharmacist. For us, at Sandoz, it also allows us to fulfill our purpose of being pioneers in facilitating access to health for patients, in this case, for the population of the entire Community of Madrid.” And he added: “We are making all the services that the pharmacy offers us available to citizens, with a focus on prevention and early care for different pathologies. “This type of initiative reinforces our pioneering spirit and our commitment to continue working to build, together with professionals and patients, the pharmacy of the future.”
The next stations in the COFM and Sandoz campaign will be Torrejón de Ardoz and Fuenlabrada (in October), within a calendar that includes other Madrid towns in the first phase of the project.
Assistance opportunity
The initiative is a continuation of the campaign Here is a pharmacist (www.aquihayunfarmaceutico.es), which the COFM launched last year to explain the valuable work for society that the pharmaceutical profession carries out in its different forms of practice and the opportunity that pharmacists represent to face some of the health and social challenges derived from aging, chronicity and dependency.
In Spain, it is estimated that the prevalence of diabetes is above 13% and more than 6% of the population is undiagnosed. In the case of high blood pressure (HTN), its incidence is greater than 30%, with a high underdiagnosis, since one in three people with HTN does not know that they suffer from it.
The management of chronic diseases is one of the great global challenges, since nearly half of the people who suffer from a chronic pathology do not adequately comply with their pharmacological treatment.
Smoking is the main cause of preventable diseases in Spain and affects more than 20% of the population, while the prevalence of obesity and overweight is increasing in Spain, where 55.6% of adults and a third of minors are overweight.
Another of the great challenges is the increase in skin cancer among the population. More than 78,000 new patients are diagnosed every year and it is expected that in 2040 melanoma will become the second tumor in global incidence.
“With this campaign we want to highlight the role of the pharmacist to prevent diseases, detect pathologies early and collaborate with the rest of the health professionals to promote healthy lifestyles and achieve health results for citizens and the National Health System itself” , concluded Manuel Martínez del Peral.
