The past few months, dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have emphasised the importance of working together, sharing experience and knowledge, and keeping abreast of clinical developments, both nationally and internationally.
Sharing experience, initiatives and knowledge has been the focus of the annual European Women Pharmacists Meeting for several years. When it became evident that the planned conference on e-health in September 2020 would have to be postponed, we decided to replace this with a two-hour web seminar, ‘Coping with the Coronavirus Crisis’.
The seminar aims to share some practical experiences of working through the pandemic, discuss the role of the World Health Organization (WHO), and highlight developments in future prevention and treatment.
Dutch pharmacist Linda de Graaf will report her experience of working in community pharmacy in a town in the Netherlands that has been badly hit by the pandemic.
Jacqueline Surugue, immediate past president of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, will describe the role of hospital pharmacists in France during the pandemic.
Romania’s WHO representative, professor Alexandru Rafila of Bucharest University of Medicine and Pharmacy, will discuss WHO strategies.
SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will be covered by Heidi Meyer, head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Standardization and Evaluation of Vaccines at the Paul Ehrlich Institute.
Dr Torsten Tonn, professor for transfusion medicine at the Technical University of Dresden and director of the North East German Red Cross Blood Donor Service, will discuss the manufacture of COVID-19 convalescent plasma, and clinical experience.
If you would like to gain insight into how pharmacists have been, and will be, involved in coping with the coronavirus crisis, join this web seminar, which will take place from 9:00 to 11:00 BST on 26 September 2020. The seminar will be delivered in English and is free of charge.
To attend, register your name, email address and contact phone number at http://vaaoe.at/events/anmeldung/ewpm092020 or tweet your interest at @EWPM2.
Further details will be sent to registrants nearer the time.
The postponed 15th European Women Pharmacists Meeting on e-Health will be held in Romania on 22 May 2021.
Virginia Watson, retired pharmacist, on behalf of the European Women Pharmacy Meeting Committee
