Short summary of the General Assembly
3 October 2008, WHO Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ms Inger Lise Eriksen, President of the EuroPharm Forum, welcomed 46 participants from 19 countries and 4 observers to the 17th Annual Meeting in Copenhagen.
Dr Nedret Emeroglu, Acting Director, Division of Health Programmes, WHO Regional Office for Europe, welcomed the delegates and expressed her best wishes for the General Assembly. She emphasised that the WHO is extremely happy with the collaborative work which the EuroPharm Forum carries out in technical areas. The WHO hopes that this will continue in the future and wishes to carry on the collaboration with the Forum. As Dr Nedret Emeroglu sees it, the EuroPharm Forum contributes to defining best practices, disseminating the information in a wide network, and bringing added value to the technical areas by defining standards and tools. There has been a long process of fruitful collaboration since 1992 between the WHO and the EuroPharm Forum which will be strengthened at the General Assembly by the Memorandum of Understanding of Collaboration between the WHO and the EuroPharm Forum. The WHO is slightly worried about the decrease in member associations and would like to see more members join this platform.
Ms President Inger Lise Eriksen presented the Main Business of Past Year referring to the Annual Report of the Executive Committee. She provided a quick summary of the main achievements of the present Executive Committee leading up to several of the documents which the General Assembly was to discuss later. After Inger Lise Eriksen’s presentation, questions concerning the withdrawals of Germany, Austria and Latvia were raised. The General Assembly urged the Executive Committee to seek to identify the reasons behind these withdrawals and bring the countries back to the EuroPharm Forum. A delegate raised a question of the usability of the EuroPHarm Forum materials, stating that some members do not prioritise protocols etc., but rather information on what is going on, eg within the WHO. The Executive Committee replied that they are aware of the different needs of the members and will try to comply with these.
Executive Committee Member, Mr Th(Dick) Tromp reported from the Ministerial Conference on Health and Wealth held in Tallinn in June 2008 and arranged by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. He showed that all materials from the Conference are available at
http://www.euro.who.int/healthsystems2008
and encouraged people to check for themselves. Dick Tromp mentioned the Declaration: Pharmacist improving people’s health, the Memorandum of Understanding for Collaboration between the WHO and the EuroPharm Forum, the Proposal for Sponsorship and the suggested change in Statutes, which were documents needed to move the EuroPharm Forum on. View Dick Tromp's presentation
here.
Executive Committee Member, Mr Balázs Hankó, went on to the Professional Programme linking it to the Strategic Plan. He highlighted elements from each Programme to show the outcomes of the professional work. View Mr Balázs Hankó's presentation
here.
Then, the General Assembly discussed the documents (Declaration, Memorandum, Sponsorship and Statutes). The spirit in the documents was well accepted by all, and minor changes were suggested. All documents were approved by the General Assembly.
Concerning membership, the General Assembly acknowledged the withdrawals of Germany and Austria. The withdrawal of Latvia, which was reasoned by financial difficulties, was not accepted by the General Assembly. Instead, the General Assembly encouraged the Executive Committee to contact Latvia and find a solution.
The Financial Results for 2007 and the current financial status for 2008 were presented and accepted with no comments from the General Assembly. The same applied to Budget 2009 and membership fee rates for 2009, where the General Assembly accepted a general increase in membership fees.
All members of the Executive Committee were up for election. For Presidency, one candidate came forward, and Mr Dick Tromp (The Netherlands) was elected. For offices at the Executive Committee, 5 candidates came forward and were elected: Mr Balázs Hankó (Hungary), Mr Gerald Alexander (UK) both for 3 years. Ms Ingunn Björnsdóttir (Iceland) elected for two years, Ms Astrid Kĺgedal (Sweden) and Mr Henri Lepage (France), both elected for one year.
The General Assembly followed the Executive Committee’s proposal to hold the 18th General Assembly from 9-10 October 2009 and, by kind invitation from the Moldavian Association of Pharmacists, the event will take place in Moldova.
Observers from FIP, EPSA, EAHP and PGEU addressed the General Assembly individually. They invited for increased collaboration in the anticipation that more collaboration will lead to mutual benefits for all members.
In the afternoon, the General Assembly discussed the future collaboration, future financing, access to materials, and the Professional Programme in minor workshops. Each workshop leader reported back to the General Assembly and handed over the conclusions to the newly elected Executive Committee.
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