GSK and International Pharmaceutical Federation address concerns around air pollution on health

Pharmaceutical company GSK has issued a call to action to pharmacists to address growing concern around the impact of air pollution on respiratory health.

The call to action was issued by GSK Consumer Healthcare’s initiative, The Clean Breathing Institute (TCBI), alongside the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

The call to action was issued during a roundtable on 7 September, held alongside community pharmacists and pharmacy associations. The roundtable was set up to provide guidance on how to implement the actions through a global framework and country advocacy efforts.

As frontline primary healthcare professionals, GSK and FIP believe that community pharmacists are ideally positioned to tackle the issue of the impact of air pollution on their patients’ respiratory health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 91% of people are living in places where air quality guidelines are not met. More so, air pollution accounts for around 4.2 million deaths every year due to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

The call to action comes from initiatives set out by the TCBI and FIP designed to better understand pharmacists’ awareness of the impact of air pollution on respiratory health.

In 2020, FIP conducted the first-ever air pollution survey, hearing from pharmacists in 62 countries and territories about their current role in respiratory care.

“The survey defined a number of barriers that must be overcome if the profession is to be able to practise to its full potential in this area, lack of training being the first. This calls for professional organisations, including FIP, to develop such guidance to support this much-needed transformation of community pharmacy practice,” said Gonçalo Sousa Pinto, FIP lead for practice development and transformation and co-author of the report. “We saw a need to continue conversations with community pharmacists to truly understand how we can help make an impact.”

In support of the call to action, TCBI and FIP are encouraging pharmacists to take a Breathe Better pledge, which looks to provide pharmacists with the tools, training and support they need to become respiratory health advocates in their communities.

To address this, FIP organised several roundtables in collaboration with TCBI, to identify priority areas related to: professional pharmacy services, education and training required to support community pharmacists with regards to air pollution and respiratory health; opportunities and barriers on pharmacists’ role in air pollution; key policy drivers and barriers to support these emerging roles by pharmacists.

“We are proud of the ongoing partnership between TCBI and FIP and our common goal of driving awareness and education around the impact of air pollution on patients’ health,” said Tess Player, global head of Expert at GSK Consumer Healthcare. “We are committed to providing the resources, tools and training that is needed to help pharmacists better address this topic with their patients and offer solutions for managing the effects of air pollution on their wellbeing.”