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Pharmacists' roles are evolving from that of compounders and dispensers of medicines to that of experts on medicines within multidisciplinary health care teams. In the developing country context, the pharmacy is often the most accessible or even the sole point of access to health care advice and services.Because of their knowledge of medicines and clinical therapeutics, pharmacists are suitably placed for task shifting in health care and could be further trained to undertake functions such as clinical management and laboratory diagnostics. Indeed, pharmacists have been shown to be willing, competent, and cost-effective providers of what the professional literature calls "pharmaceutical care interventions"; however, internationally, there is an underuse of pharmacists for patient care and public health efforts. A coordinated and multifaceted effort to advance workforce planning, training and education is needed in order to prepare an adequate number of well-trained pharmacists for such roles.Acknowledging that health care needs can vary across geography and culture, an international group of key stakeholders in pharmacy education and global health has reached unanimous agreement that pharmacy education must be quality-driven and directed towards societal health care needs, the services required to meet those needs, the competences necessary to provide these services and the education needed to ensure those competences. Using that framework, this commentary describes the Pharmacy Education Taskforce of the World Health Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Pharmaceutical Federation Global Pharmacy and the Education Action Plan 2008–2010, including the foundation, domains, objectives and outcome measures, and includes several examples of current activities within this scope.

Pharmacists have been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality, reduce medication errors, improve rational use and prescribing of medicines, and increase access to health care and medicines. Unfortunately, in many countries there is a severe shortage of appropriately trained pharmacists and pharmaceutical human resources. The WHO UNESCO FIP Pharmacy Education Taskforce is steering sustainable pharmacy education and pharmacy workforce action to support and strengthen local, national, regional, and international efforts. The Taskforce advocates for a needsbased approach, which aims to meet the pharmaceutical needs of the local population. This paper explains the concept of needs-based education, describes the work of the Pharmacy Education Taskforce, and explores key issues in pharmacy education development and quality assurance.

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