Togo – Renewing Support for the Pharmaceutical Curriculum

01/16/2018

Togo, though well-known for its quality training of physicians, lacks sufficient numbers of well-qualified pharmacists, particularly in the nation’s public hospitals. As of 2015, the country had 229 pharmacists, only seven of whom were in hospitals, for seven million inhabitants*.

To help facilitate access to quality medicines, the government is working to strengthen the national drug system and drug-management capacity. This is why, in 2018, the Fondation Pierre Fabre Board of Directors has decided to renew its agreement supporting the pharmaceutical curriculum at the Faculty of Health Sciences (Medicine & Pharmacy) at the University of Lomé for a five-year period.

The reasons for renewing this partnership are self-evident: any type of training for healthcare professionals requires long-term programmes. It takes six years to train a pharmacist, and double that time to train a specialised instructor. The Fondation Pierre Fabre, by extending its committed support of this Faculty of Health Sciences, intends to develop long-term training initiatives to ensure future educators for the pharmacy curriculum.

In addition to the goal of training young instructors in several disciplines, with two to three new qualified teachers for the entire pharmacy curriculum by 2022, the programme also intends to support the curriculum’s structuring (including new specialties, such as pharmacy work in hospital contexts), the acquisition of teaching materials and the development of coursework, especially the lab sessions that is essential for a quality educational offer. The ultimate goal is to see more pharmacists going to work at Togolese hospitals and public institutions.

The Fondation Pierre Fabre is committed to training drug professionals and has been supporting the pharmacy curriculum since 2011 (learn more about the pharmacy curriculum training programme at the University of Lomé’s Faculty of Health Sciences). This initiative has supported renovation of the premises, educational engineering projects (creation of lab coursework), the planning and financing of teaching missions, the acquisition and provision of scientific and educational materials, and financing for scholarships.

 *Source : Conférence Internationale des Ordres de Pharmaciens Francophones