3. CONTENTS
Definition
Scope
Social pharmacy as a discipline and its scope in improving the public health.
Role of Pharmacists in Public Health.
Concept of Health-WHO Definition, various dimensions, determinants and Health
indicators.
National Health Policy – Indian Perspective
Public and Private Health System in India, National Health Mission
Introduction to Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals,
FIP Development Goals.
4. INTRODUCTION
One of the major roles of pharmacists is as the suppliers of medicines, often at the request of a medical doctor. Traditionally,
pharmacists would have supplied many medicines and remedies from ʻrecipesʼ provided to them by doctors or from standard
formulae published in pharmacopoeias. Using basic ingredients, and their skills in preparing a range of formulations, pharmacists
would have engaged in what is generally known as extemporaneous compounding.
During the 20th century, the role of pharmacists in dispensing prescriptions, according to a doctorʼs recipe, was all but subsumed
by the dispensing of pharmaceutical products manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry. This move from extemporaneous
compounding of nostrums to the advent of medicines based on the known activity of its chemical ingredients, required additional
knowledge in areas such as pharmacology and pathophysiology, and an understanding of the physicochemical properties of their
formulations. With the availability of these more potent and pharmaceutically active medicines and a greater understanding of the
way drugs work in the body, pharmacists also began to have a greater role in checking the correct dosage, appropriateness and
drug interactions.
An understanding of social sciences can help us to understand these relationships and to develop more appropriate responses to
enhancing medicines-related outcomes. Furthermore, an understanding of social sciences is also helping us to understand the way
in which healthcare is delivered and the impact that this has on other health outcome. In order to prepare pharmacists to work in
this complex health environment there has been a major change in the way pharmacists are educated, and possibly the types of
people who have become pharmacists.
Pharmacists, in particular in community settings, have also seen their roles expanded and extended along with a greater focus on
patients engaging in self-care ‒ the actions taken by patients to manage their own ailments and medical conditions. More recently
a number of countries have enacted laws and regulations which allow pharmacists to be independent prescribers of prescription
medicines.
Social pharmacy has been described as: “The endeavor to integrate drugs into a broader perspective and to include legal, ethical,
economic, political, social, communicative, and psychological aspects into their evaluation in order to contribute to the safe and
rational use of drugs” .
