The organization of ACPN (Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria)
by Pharmchoices
The ACPN (Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria) was initially called the Nigerian Association of General Practice Pharmacists (NAGPP). It is the first technical body of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and was formed in Kaduna in 1981.
Technical arms of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria are:
Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN)
National Association of Pharmacists in Academia (NAPA)
Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists in Nigeria (AHAPN)
Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP)
They hold their annual conference yearly, with this year’s 2021 event held in Abeokuta.
The ACPN is currently headed by Pharm. Adewale Aderemi Oladigbolu. He took over the chairmanship of the body from Dr. Samuel Adekola after the elections that took place in September. The election was conducted at Abeokuta during the annual conference.
The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria has other key positions, such as Vice Chairman, National Secretary, National Assistant Secretary, Financial Secretary, National Editor-in-Chief, National Treasurer.
The functions of ACPN
The ACPN has been clamoring for the recognition of community pharmacists in the country as primary healthcare givers by the Federal Government. This is because they provide quality and easily accessible healthcare services to the community.
They have also been fighting the lack of control of internet pharmacies. A situation the body has seen as the easiest route for the proliferation of drugs into the wrong hands, drug misuse, and abuse.
ACPN is responsible for coordinating the welfare of community pharmacists across the country. They represent the group and relays information about the association to the PSN.
They advocate for the interest of the members and forward complaints to different regulatory bodies and the government.
In our earlier post, we explained how to register a new pharmacy premise in Nigeria. You can read the earlier post before reading this post on how community pharmacy practice in Nigeria works.
It should be noted that there has been a shift in perspective from pharmacists offering only compounding and dispensing of drugs services to wholesome patient education and pharmaceutical care.
The new patient-oriented practice approach is a big shift from the situation in the early 90s when dispensing of medication, supply of drugs and bulk compounding of extemporaneous preparations are the major roles of pharmacists.
Pharmaceutical care is now the most widely accepted approach in both community and hospital pharmacy practice. It is the role of ACPN to promote the pharmaceutical care approach to their members and encourage them to embrace it.
