Achieving Pharmacy-Based Public Health: A Call for Public Health Engagement

Abstract

©2013 Association of Schools of Public Health The evolution of pharmacy practice in the last 15 years has created expanded public health access. Community pharmacies now provide a range of public health services with promising improvements in health access and outcomes. The observed practice changes call our attention to systemic issues that remain in need of collective attention. As we strengthen our intersectoral public health system, we must focus on the pharmacy-public health partnership and establish collaborative policy and research agendas to guide this system change for maximum public health impact. Our collective effort to assure the health of communities depends upon our seeing opportunities across systems and sectors, and upon our success in shifting the policy environment to allow health system flexibility.