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The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in a report of a meeting of an international insight board published on Friday (27 January) highlighted the potential for pharmacists to close the existing gender gap in pain management. The insight board, assembled by FIP in Seville, Spain, in September 2022, was co-chaired by FIP vice president Professor Parisa Aslani. "Research indicates that pain experienced by women is underestimated and undertreated. Alarmingly, in addition to receiving less effective pain relief, evidence suggests that women with pain are more likely to be prescribed antidepressants," Prof. Aslani said. The insight board attributed much of this "gender pain gap" to implicit biases and put forward the view that pharmacy curricula and continuous professional development programmes must be able to provide adequate self-awareness and training to enable pain management without any bias. It also suggested ways in which pharmacists could be supported in addressing the gender pain gap in their practice.

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has released a handbook today (February 23) on guidance for pharmacists on supporting self-care. The handbook, "Empowering self-care: A handbook for pharmacists", covers six areas of self-care - sore throat, gastrointestinal complaints, musculoskeletal pain, fever in children, sexual health and disinfection. Commenting on the release, Rúben Viegas, co-author of the handbook, said: Community pharmacists already help people in self-care by giving advice on non-prescription medicines, nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle choices, but this new resource from FIP offers added support for these professional services that demonstrate our profession's commitment to primary health care." The publication, also intended as an advocacy resource for FIP's member organisations, discusses latest trends and strategies in self-care and explores innovations adopted across several practice areas. It aims to provide pharmacists with concise guidance on coaching practices and person-centred approaches to promote self-care.