WPC advocates for structural funding for medicine dispensing

The World Pharmacy Council (WPC) calls for increased investment in community pharmacies, as a strategic pillar of a more accessible, efficient, and resilient health system, which must make the definition of structural funding for medicine dispensing an imperative.

In a statement, the organization proposes a mechanism to optimize funding models based on five essential elements:

1. Viability, by recognizing the physical infrastructure and clinical resources necessary for a pharmacy's operation;
2. Responsiveness, which must include automatic indexation to inflation;
3. Equity, by actively promoting equitable access to pharmacies for people;
4. Separation, distinguishing the funding from that of other services; and
5. Efficiency, by minimizing the administrative burden.

Medicine dispensing is the main service provided by community pharmacies, being crucial for ensuring the safe, effective, and rational use of medicines by people, contributing to equitable access to them, as well as to comprehensive and personalized care, and to the future capacity of a viable pharmacy network capable of relieving other levels of healthcare.

Thus, the community pharmacy funding model must reflect the clinical, economic, and Public Health value.

Pharmacies play an essential role in most developed countries. In Portugal alone, more than half a million people visit them daily. Investing in a well-funded network, anchored in sustainable dispensing services, is a direct and proven strategy for creating more accessible, efficient, and resilient healthcare.