Since its birth in Singapore in 2001, International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation Asia Pacific Regional Office (IPSF APRO) endeavouras to represent pharmacy students across the Asia Pacific in over 10 countries. Our purpose is to support and advance the aims and objectives of the Federation at the regional level.

3 APRONewsletter

IntroductionAPRO Regional Working Group 2012-2013

Meng San Lee (Dora) - TaiwanRecent graduated student from Taipei Medical University

James White - Australia4th year student at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Edberg Andreas - Indonesia4th year student at Universitas Indonesia

I had never leave Taiwan this cute island until my first trip to APPS Indonesia back in 2011. Two years after, I have been to 6 different countries and fly over 10 times and now the member of star alliance, all because of IPSF. I am con-vinced that the reason I got my first position as RPO is because I said I would remain single during my mandate. As for the chairperson position, I believe action speaks louder than words. We will prove it to you. As for me…I am shy, although most of you may not agree; I used to be a break-dancer but now I am 23yrs old and all my bones are in pain; the status now is still single (I didn’t meant to extend this mandate); most importantly, I am really excited to see you all in 2014 APPS in Malaysia! You will be amazed, how YOU and this team have made me so busy and hopefully by then, you will see how magical it is to be part of APPS, APRO and IPSF altogether. After all, it’s all for you, for us.

Chairperson

Secretary

Internal Coordinator and Communication Officer (ICCO)

Season’s Greetings from Melbourne, Australia. My first taste of IPSF was meeting a very loud American girl at LIT in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Needless to say we, and all my fellow LITers, bonded over stories of Koalas and Kangaroos and fast became friends. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be surrounded by my fellow IPSFers. That realization has led me to where I am today. I’m a 20 year old (I know, still a baby) pharmacy student born in Colac, Victoria, Australia (look it up!), and I haven’t grown up much from that point. I live in Melbourne, Australia and pay too much in rent. If you want to bribe me, beer is good especially a cold one on a hot day. The only other thing I have to say is,Viva la Pharmacie

Hi all, my name is Edberg Andreas. I’m from Indonesia, and in my final year of studies at Universitas Indonesia. So far I’ve visited 2 APPS, in Taiwan and Japan. After the symposia, I feel something different with me, something that makes me wants to know more and get involved with IPSF. I run this position because I want to share these amazing experiences to the others. But due to the language barrier, it is hard to share these experiences. So for this term, I hope I can have a newsletter translate into another language and hope this will make people easily to understand what IPSF is. Last but not least, I hope to see you all in APPS 2014 Malaysia. Feel the IPSF Spirit!

“

”

”

”

“

“

4APRONewsletter

Brendon Mclntosh - New ZealandRecent graduated student from University of Otago

Saik Mei Yen - Malaysia4th year student at AIMST University

Nur Atiqah Hasman Yusri - Malaysia4th year student at International Islamic University Malayisa

Kia Ora! My name is Brendon McIntosh from New Zealand and I am your Regional Relations Officer for 2013-14. I first became involved with APRO at the 2012 World Congress in Egypt. I cannot explain how much that congress inspired me, I felt like I was in a dream the whole 10 days. I have just finished my 4th year of Pharmacy at the University of Otago and am about to start my internship year on the beautiful West Coast of the South Island. I decided to run for RRO after attending my 2nd World Congress in Utrecth as I wanted to give back for the experience IPSF has given me and let other people know of the opportunities that can be had. This year I want to show non-member countries some of these opportunities and just get more people involved to make APRO an even stronger member of IPSF than we already are.One thing I believe I can bring to the new RWG family is a bit of humour, as nothing should ever be taken too seriously. I am really looking forward to working with the new CPs and SEOs and getting to know them through var-ious skype meetings. When I’m not working hard learning about Pharmacy, I like to play rugby or go out surfing with the boys. Feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions and I am looking forward to continuing on APROs reputation of the best regional office in the IPSF.

I had never got a chance to go out of Malaysia to actually participate in a symposium or conference relating to my key areas of studies. What I have learnt throughout my university studies life was all derived from textbooks and lectures. However, IPSF given me opportunities to widen my professional and ethical perspectives from the exposure of foreign cultures. To my belief that all the experiences gain will definitely beneficial for me in terms of professional skills and also personal views. Hope to see all of you in the coming APPS held at Malaysia. You will never regret for it. “Do not carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones. Never regret. If it is good, it’s won-derful. If it is bad, it’s experience.”

Hi all, I’m Atiqah, the chairperson of APPS 2014!. Yes, there is APPS in 2014 and it will be held in the hub Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur next August 2014! I assure you that next year APPS will be very different as for the first time; there will be a heart pumping pharmazing race, hands-on cultural workshops and many more interesting activities in support of Visit Malaysia year 2014! I took up this positions after so many things that we had to go through (which even forced us to withdrawn last year) so that IPSF spirits will never stops and with full hope that APPS 2014 will be a memorable event for us all!! So, what are you waiting for? Come and visit Malaysia, a land of sensory amazement and joy, a land that offers vibrant experiences and endless possibilities.

Regional RelationsOfficer (RRO)

Chairperson of 13th APPS Malaysia

Regional ProjectsOfficer (RPO)

”

”

”

“

“

“

PCE and CSEAPRO Focus Projects

6APRONewsletter

APRO projects for this term are the Patient Coun-selling Event (PCE), and the Clinical Skill Event (CSE), focusing in Professional Development among the phar-macy students in APRO. The aims are to ensure that pharmacy professionals practice safely and effectively, and keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date in order to maintain and improve their practice.

Communication is the transfer of meaningful infor-mation to those involved. It is the process in which mes-sages are generated and sent by one person, and then received and translated by another person. The com-munication skill is very important for effective patient counselling, because counselling incorporates different communication skills together, using verbal and non-ver-bal communication. In pharmacy, it refers to the process of providing information, advice and assistance to help patients use their medication appropriately.

The Clinical Skills Event (CSE) was a concept devel-oped by the American Society of Health- systems Phar-macists (ASHP). It is designed to facilitate an interactive, team-based analysis of clinical scenarios for health-sys-tem pharmacists. It assesses pharmacists’ clinical knowl-edge to solve and improve a patient’s drug therapy. Addi-tionally, it also encourages and recognizes excellence in clinical skills development for pharmacy students.

Each year IPSF and APRO hold these events at the World Congress and the Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) respectively, giving opportunities for participants from each country to challenge and com-pete against each other in terms of their pharmaceutical knowledge and skill. Our objective for this term is to encourage Asia Pacific pharmacy organizations to take the initiative to organize these events during national congress in their country. These projects act to reach out to more pharmacy students, and gives them hands-on practice and experience before competing in APPS and WC.

How to hold PCE? IPSF, together with the FIP In-formation Sections, published a joint publication, Coun-selling, Concordance, and Communication: Innovative Education for Pharmacists. In this booklet, they provide information about patient counselling and guidelines on how to organize a PCE. The booklet can be retrieved from IPSF website: http://www.ipsf.org/pce

How to hold CSE? IPSF also provides a step by step guideline for CSE; it includes all the information and guidelines required to organize a Clinical Skill Event/Competition. The booklet can be retrieved from IPSF website: http://www.ipsf.org/cse

ASHP states the goals of the clinical skills compe-tition are to: i. Foster the development of clinical practice skills using all available resources;ii. Reinforce the pharmacist’s responsibility for option drug therapy outcomes;iii. Facilitate the effective use of a systematic approach to clinical problem-solving; andiv. Utilize written and oral communication skills.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me at rpo@apro.ipsf.org. I am always there to provide you with ideas and help you in solving problems when you face any difficulties in organizing these events.

Please send me a report if your organization is done with these events so we can use it as reference for other organizations. Besides, we would also like to recognize your work. If your organization is planning to have these events in the coming year, you can also send me your proposal and we can have a discussion.

Last but not least, we have provided you a sample patient counselling event along with this newsletter as reference. The instructions are exactly the same format as the Patient Counselling Events during the regional symposia and world congress. Let’s think together about the case and provide effective counselling for the patient. You can either open a discussion or share your answer to IPSF APRO Facebook to discuss with other members from different countries, to see how they would counsel their patient. Let us know what information you need in order to counsel the patient. On the other hand, you are welcome to email me your answer or ask any infor-mation you would like to know about the patient (eg. dialogue/patient counselling form and reference) and I will provide you a standard evaluation form. Have fun!

Saik Mei YenIPSF APRO Regional Project Officer

7 APRONewsletter

PCE Sample Official Advanced Preliminary Case

Please Read The Instructions CarefullyContestants are given 24 hours to review the basic outline of the case, which includes a basic patient profile,

medication/non-prescription product(s), and some background information regarding the patient. Please note, the in-formation provided is not complete, and hence it is your duty to gather relevant information during the counseling.

It is suggested that you do further research and use other references to supplement your understanding of the case. You are not limited to what kind of materials you may use as your study reference. Please note - you may not bring in any references into the counsel.

The counsel’s duration will be up to a maximum of 10 minutes. A bell will ring at the 8 minute mark to notify that you have only 2 minutes left. The bell will also ring at the 10 minute mark, at which time you will cease your counsel. Afterwards, you will be provided with oral feedback (up to a maximum of 5 minutes). Written feedback will be available as soon as it is finalized.

On behalf of the Professional Development Department of IPSF, we wish you a wonderful experience.

Official CaseA gentleman just came by to drop off this prescription. He was in a hurry and he said he will come by later to pick up his prescrip-tion. Please counsel him as you would in a clinical setting.Patient information available from your pharmacy record

Name : Adrian McDonald Age : 45 Sex : MaleAllergy : not listed on fileFilled prescription medication(s) from profile: Ramipril 2.5mg po OD (last filled 2 weeks ago)Other information: Not available

Tips1) Do not jump to conclusions or quick solutions with-

out hearing all the facts.2) Do not shift from one subject to another.3) Use open and closed- ended questions.4) Keep your goals clearly in mind.5) A short summary is necessary to conclude the

interview.6) Should ensure better patient compliance.

HAVE FUN !!

Guidelines1) List out what do you need to know from the patient

to be able to counsel the patient properly? a) Introduction: What shall you do when the patient

comes to the pharmacy? How do you start the counseling session?

b) Before you counsel the drug itself, you have to gath- er information about the patient. What all do youthink you need to know? What can change your judgment about the suitability of the drug? Etc.

c) Now that you have all the information, you can pro-ceed with the medication counseling. What is every-thing you have to mention in relation to this drug?Are there any interactions? How do you store thisdrug? Etc.

d) Is there anything else you should add? How should you conclude everything?

STUDENT EXCHANGE

PROGRAM (SEP)REPORTS

9 APRONewsletter

SEPin ISMAFARSI, IndonesiaISMAFARSI is a member of IPSF that is located in South East Asia. Starting from the capital city of Indonesia, we provide several places for hosts such as Jogjakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya. During the previous period, we also had Denpasar as our new hosts to welcome new students that wanted to experience SEP. We hope to host more stu-dents and share the wonderful experience of SEP in Indonesia with the new incoming students!

Incoming StudentsIn 2013, ISMAFARSI received 12 incoming stu-dents that came from Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain, and Portugal. They were placed in different cities and they had a chance to work ei-ther in hospital, community pharmacy or research. We gave our best efforts to let all the incoming students experience Indonesian culture during their exchange and also how the medical systems work in Indonesia.

Most of the students were placed based on their applications and the availability of the hosts. They really enjoy the SEP down to the core! I hope they can spread the word to their friends and tell them of their experiences.

Outgoing StudentsStill in 2013, we sent 17 students abroad to experience SEP in other countries or even other continents. They were very very excited about SEP and had spread the word to everyone about how wonderful it is to have a chance to join SEP. This is exactly one of the limited chances to study the medical system in other countries for sure!

10APRONewsletter

“Join SEP, keep the unforgettable memories and share the experi-ence to everyone near you! May SEP bring you to a bet-ter future!”

Angelia Putri MoelionoStudent Exchange Officer ISMAFARSI

APRONewsletter

SEPin MyPSA, Malaysia

I was given the opportunity to hold the position of Student Exchange Officer (SEO) during the Extraordinary General Meeting conducted at Monash University on 20th August 2012. My inspi-ration to go for this post was of course my very own senior, Faridah Yunos, who was the SEO for session 2011-2012. Her dedication to her work made me excited to apply for this post, besides the fact that I wanted to challenge myself to be part of a big association like MyPSA, and gain great experiences and opportunities that await me. As SEO of MyPSA, it was my duty to inform the Chairperson of Student Exchange of Interna-tional Pharmaceutical Student Federation (IPSF) on information regarding the Student Exchange Programme (SEP) in Malaysia, liaise with SEOs of other countries in order to place exchange students, manage the incoming and outgoing exchange students, allocate the jobs for appointed Local Exchange Officers (LEOs) and update the SEP database with the newest information.

In this year SEP, we hosted 12 incoming exchange students. They are Hana Parackova and Ivona Fajnorova (Slovakia), Agnes Ducz and Julia Jakab (Hungary), Anggun Pramuda Wardhani, Maulina Sriwiduri and Tika Nurhasanah (Indonesia), Da-lia Gaber and Farh Zakeyeldin (Egypt), Ana Fujs (Slovenia), and Katia Christina Pires and Mina Al Fartousi (The Netherlands). We hosted them from the 15th July until the 3rd September 2013. There were two appointed host universities, which were Mara University of Technology (UiTM) Puncak Alam and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Kuantan with research internship and com-munity pharmacy attachment respectively.

As for outgoing students, there were 21 approved applications from the Malaysian students. They are:1. Jason Hong Tat Siang (AIMST) –The Netherlands2. Kelvin Fong Lip Nyen (AIMST) –Japan 3. Celeste Tan Wei Zi (AMU) –Not placed (Australia)4. Sabrina Joan Silvanathan (AMU) –Waiting5. Nur Ammal Mohd Farit (CUCMS) –Turkey6. Amirah Abdul Rashid (CUCMS) –Not placed7. Nurul Namirah Azillah (IIUM) –Not placed (Aus-tralia)8. Ishmah Musfirah Nazari (IIUM) –Not going (Aus-tralia)9. Cedric Chua Chong Jie (IMU) –US10. Tan Kai Hsin (IMU) –US11. Chor Kaizia (IMU) –Not placed12. Lim Yun Hui (Monash) –Not going(Czech Repub-lic)13. Rachel Tan Siew Ven (Monash) –Not placed14. Emileen Chieng Siaw Ling –Not placed15. Ammar Hakim Osman (UiTM) –Turkey16. Nur Nabiha Razak (UiTM) –Not going (Japan)17. Nurul Mahfuzah Baharuddin (UiTM) –Not placed (Turkey)18. Qallishah Kamal Azman (UiTM) –Not going (France)19. Ong Woei Jye (UM) –Taiwan20. Joan Wong Zu En (USM) –Taiwan21. Lam Miao Hui (USM) –Taiwan

For your information, the SEPs for both incoming and outgoing students in this session are still going until end of December 2013. The future SEO replac-ing me will continue my work in managing SEP and the exchange students involved. I hope the future SEO will work diligently for this post and I wish him/her all the best!

Nur Ermalina Bt Jadi @ Mohd FaizStudent Exchange Officer MyPSA

11

APRONewsletter

SEPin NUS, Singapore

Outgoing StudentsIn July 2012, we sent 12 students overseas for the Student Exchange Programme. These countries included Taiwan, USA, Turkey and Canada. They travelled there for less than a month to experi-ence the different fields of pharmacy.

Incoming Students In 2012, we received a total of 6 students from May to August. They were from Canada, Slova-kia, Taiwan and Indonesia. Students were posted to retail pharmacy in hospitals and malls to provide them with the opportunity to experience pharmacy life in Singapore. In addition, we brought these students to unique places in Singapore such as Sentosa to enjoy the recreational activities and food!

SEPin HMF ‘ars praeparandi’ ITB, Indonesia

Internship at Adventist Hospital Bandung

Visiting the Crater Hot springs

Graduation Party July 2013

12

APRONewsletter

Celebrating Eid Mubarak at our lecturer’s house Mr Emran Kartasasmita, the one on the right side. Mr

Emran is also a coordinator for SEP, and is responsible for research at ITB. He helps us a lot.

He is really helpful and kind.

Celebrating Indonesian Independence Day with local villagers at Kidang Pananjung Village.

We played an Indonesian traditional match for our Independence Day. We always do these matches every year.

At this international night, we learn dances from Bandung and Egypt.

13

APRONewsletter

SEPin BEM KMFA UGM, Indonesia

In 2012 BEM KMFA UGM placed 8 pharmacy students from different associations. For the clinic community field, the internship was at Rumah Sehat dan Apotek UGM, whilst for the research programme, students did some research projects in the faculty of Pharmacy Gadjah Mada University. All of the students stayed with family hosts. We spent day by day together, such as meeting at the pharmacy to discuss some issues (even gossiping), uploading 1001 photos on Facebook, experiencing a culinary tour around Yogyakarta, held a welcom-ing and farewell party and so on. In short, it was extremely memorable.

Starting from July 2012, we had Lok Li Yi from the United Kingdom, Clinic Community; Tomáš Kříž from Republic of Czech, Clinic Community; and Syauqi Ahmad from Malaysia, Research. Even though they came from different continents, they were able to become close enough during their exchange. Fortunately, when they were here, we had a Herbal Tour which was held on Tawangmangu, Solo. We went around the medicinal plant fields and saw how to process herbal products.

Not only that, we also spent a whole camera’s memory card taking lots of extraordinary views at Borobudur temple, Affandi’s museum, and Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat. Time flew and before we knew it, they were going back to their hometowns. But although we’ve been separated, we always try to keep in touch whenever we can.

On the following month, August, we had 3 Polish girls and 1 Polish guy. They were Tereza Štipková, Katarzyna Nowak, Klaudia Tytro (Clinic Communi-ty) and Filip Różewski (Research). Same as the July students, they also stayed with family hosts and did lot of activities within and outside of their intern-ships. They finished their internships successfully, except Filip, because of some accident and decided to return to Poland earlier. And last but not least, we had Saja Assaf from Yordania in September. She decided to do a research project in our faculty. She was a kind and easy-going girl, and left us with an unforgettable moment when we gave her a little gift and she cried and said that she felt grateful to have meet and known us.

14

15

APRONewsletter

Report of 12th Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) in Tokyo, JapanLeaders in Training (LIT)

Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS)

LIT is a training program to be carried out before APPS. It is a leadership training regimen for those that have satisfied the criteria after review by IPSF. There are 5 purposes for this program.1) Individual consciousness reform2) To improve communication, for example to relay in-structions3) The acquisition of skills to manage projects or make plans4) The demonstration of leadership in a group 5) The succession of the training

For the acquisition of the items mentioned above, we carry out lectures, workshops and discussions. Moreover, we make use of the knowledge that we learn, and demonstrate our skills by holding and managing the Auction Night event during APPS.

We held the12th Leader In Training program, for four days between the 19th and 22nd August 2013. This year, 13 pharmacy students participated in total (7 over-seas participants and 6 presenters). Although there was

Japan belongs to APRO (The Asia Pacific Regional Office). APPS (The Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Sympo-sium) is the international congress which is held by Asian pharmaceutical students every year with support from IPSF and APRO. The first APPS was held in Singapore in 2001, and we held the twelfth APPS this year.

It is the second time that Japan has hosted APPS. Approximately 400 participants, which was the largest in the history of APPS, and approximately 100 staff (and some companies) joined the congress.

From Day 1, the symposiums and workshops which were the main programs in APPS took place during the day. We had three symposiums and invited many famous people, such as Akira Uehara, representative director of Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd, and we could learn a lot from their precious speeches.

Participants could then choose their favorite work-shops in 23 themes. These for example were, “At-home care” and “Disaster medicine”, which are strong top-ics from Japan. The workshop participants were divid-ed into several groups after a brief description. Then they thought about the theme by themselves and.

discussed it in the group. And at the end of the work-shop, each group made a presentation.

We also had some parties to deepen exchanges during the night. Each party had a theme. We began with the welcome party, and then we had International Night, Japanese Night, Auction Night and finally Gala Night. During International Night, we wore our traditional costumes and performed on the stage. And the students from each country put on a marvelous program. During Japanese Night, we recreated a Japanese market and we got participants excited about the Japanese festival. In the Auction Night, we auctioned off goods which the participants had brought from their own countries, and the money which we got was donated to as a scholar-ship fund to students who lived in developing countries. On the last day, we held Gala Night, where all of the par-ticipants and staff got dressed up and had a great time in a friendly atmosphere.

The staff even made a movie, straight from the heart and touched us all, reminding us of the great mem-ory that was APPS.

only two staff, we made efforts to prepare the facilities, meals and night sightseeing activities, making sure the organization was perfect, so we could make the most of our time and have it be as memorable as possible. I think that we often learned in the discussions, lectures and workshops and the knowledge learnt goes beyond the four days. I was able to get to know everyone, and ex-perience their culture, as we shared experiences during our meal times, bed times, as well as during training, and it gave a really good opportunity to understand each other. Through LIT, I felt that the most important ability was speaking English. Most of participants of Asia spoke English as their non-native language, but they spoke flu-ently. Global persons are increasing in Japan, however, I felt that Japanese were still inferior to them. Through LIT, I also felt that I would like to acquire a deeper knowl-edge of pharmacy and become a global human resource. I would also like the other participants of LIT to keep focusing on pharmacy around the world and have a great student pharmacy life.

16APRONewsletter

Post Symposium Tour (PST)PST stands for Post Symposium Tour.

This tour is a sightseeing tour of Japan held af-ter APPS. The concept of PST was “The redis-covery of Japan together with foreign students”

PST is part of the International Relation Committee’s (IRC) of APS-Japan duty to educate the Japanese people about their own culture and history that may have been unaware of, find the ability to explain the wonders of Ja-pan in English, and share their knowledge with foreigners.

The PST was focused on Kanto and Kansai ar-eas, which are representative area’s of Japan. The Kan-to course included Mt.Fuji, Kamakura and Yokohama for 2 nights and 3 days while the Kansai course cov-ers Kyoto, Nara and Osaka for 3 nights and 4 days.

We placed importance on the spirit of Japanese style hospitality, “omotenashi”. During the PST some un-expected things occurred. We considered what was the best thing for the participants and what we should do in these situations. PST still has room for improvement but all the people who were involved in PST still had perfect smiles and a word of thanks meant success for PST!!!

The PST was one of the greatest experiences of our life and it was the big first step to the next level.

Finally, I would like to thank the all of won-derful participants and the members who have been working tirelessly over the past 12 months to ensure that this event was a success.

It was the twelfth time APPS was held this year and we look forward to future symposiums. So how is the host country decided? Well, the representatives of each country gather and decide the host country two years later at the RM (Regional Meeting). The RM is the place where they discuss and decide policies of APRO. This year, Thailand gave a presentation and was approved as a host in 2015. In 2014, APPS will be held by Malaysia. So to end APPS this year, we passed on the gavel to the next host country. As we look to the future we will promote cooperation between each of the Asian countries and look forward to meeting them all at the next symposia.

Marika YamadaChairperson of 12th APPS in Japan

APRONewsletter

APPS ExperienceMy great experience in Japan

Anantaya JaideePSUT Thailand

The 12th APPS 2013 at Tokyo, Japan was my first experience with IPSF. I decided to participate in APPS because I thought that it was a good opportunity and a chance to see many pharmacy students from for-eign country together. I could exchange culture, make friends, enjoy activities together and many other things. It was important that I went to Japan as I have not been before.

Once I arrived in Japan; everything was amazing: the car, the road and the house. All were different from my homeland but so beautiful anyway. I received a favorable and friendly welcome. The hosts I had took good care of me at all the times and they gave suggestion about tourist attraction in Japan. I was very glad to come to Japan.

At first I worried about my English. I do not well at English. I often misinterpret and I do not understand sometimes. At last I forget about it. Everyone tries to learn about other people and language is never a barrier. I know many things about other countries. Many things are different and many things are same. I enjoy knowing so much.

As I have come to Japan before, I wanted to get a feel about being Japanese.The host was able to fulfill my wish very well. Since the welcome party, I have had an impression of Japanese television shows. After the Japanese night, I have watched many good shows and try taste good Japanese food in place with a nice view. I was able to take a bath in hot springs (In Onsen) and put in Yukata. If I didn’t go to Japan because of IPSF I probably would not see something like that.

I really enjoyed every workshop and symposium. I participate in the Poster Session, Health Economics, Complementary Medicines, Team Approach to Healthcare and Optimal use of food. Every subject was very interesting and speakers were experts in their field. I also participated in the public health campaign, field trip and explored Japan. I received lots of knowledge and experience.

Today, about two months later I still miss Japan and miss you all. If I didn’t come to APPS, I would have regretted it forever. I want to say thank you so much. Thanks to all the leaders for their care. Thanks for the friends. Thanks everyone for hav-ing a good experience together. I will remember it forever.

19

APRONewsletter

APPS ExperienceWhat I experienced in APPS 2013

Eri KitamuraAPS Japan

We had such a busy schedule, but I am glad that most participants followed us. I noticed what a happy staff member I was when some participants recognized that I was not feeling well. I was not the only one that had such a tight schedule, the participants also did. Plus, I’m sure most of the participants had jet lag, which even made it harder for them. Though I had a fever and could barely think clearly in the morning on Day 5, I clearly remember one thing. I almost broke into tears when some participants said, “Please come to the Gala Night!” That was the moment that I got to really know that some participants needed me as a staff member.

Of course, there are many other memories too, but if I write all of it, it will take me forever. Time flies so fast, so the APPS was just fulfilled. Even after more than a month from the APPS, whenever my staff friends and I meet, we notice that we end up talking about APPS. To tell you the truth, when I first became an APPS staff member, I really didn’t like it. It was difficult to balance with my studies and other club activities. Also, I had a hard time trying to make everyone motivated, especial-ly when speaking English. I was first worried not only because I haven’t spoken English in a while, but also be-cause I used to be shy. However, during APPS, I noticed that I was one of the loudest staff members. Instead of shyness, I received so many things; for example: con-fidence, better English skills, friends from all over the world, the ability to manage time and trouble, knowl-edge about other nations and much more. It was also a pleasure for me to know about what is good about Japan as well.

In the workshops and field trips, I learned that most Asian nations are strong in curative medicine, but not so much in preventive medicine. What is inhibiting us from developing preventive medicine is our national healthcare systems, a system that does not discrim-inate the rich and the poor. Because we are guaran-teed that we can be treated, most people do not mind about curative medicine so much. Moreover, I learned that even though we are not full-fledged pharmacists, we can contribute to the society. For example, we can help patients during disasters by asking them symp-toms and thinking about which medicine is appro-priate for each of them when we are lacking medical staff.

20

APRONewsletter

Throughout the APPS, I believe that every par-ticipant and the staff member (including me) had many things we learned and many issues that we have to challenge. Of course, the issues we recognized are not easy to solve. But, in workshops, participants discussed this very seriously, so I believe that this will be the key to solve issues including political and international. I hope we will be able to make a better society in the near future.

21

APRONewsletter

APPS Experience

This is the first time I have attended APPS and, Oh boy! the preparation was something. Candidates in my organization (IPSF BEM Kemafar UNPAD) had to make a presentation about Self Medication, and pres-ent it to judges and the judges gave scores. Only 11 out of 30 candidates can go to Japan so it was about 50:50 chance. Luckily I was one of those people.I arrived at Haneda about 12 pm, me and my friends had to stay at the airport waiting for the committee to pick us up. Well it was....interesting.... I have to say. Many APPS participants were also waiting that night so there was not much going on that day. Only the registration and Welcoming party was held on the first day. The Welcoming party was so much fun. It was Japanese culture performances and games to be short. All participants were separated into few groups A to T, I was on group T. We played some games to get to know each other.

On the next day, we arrived at APPA Hotel in Tokyo Bay Makuhari. The 2nd and 3rd day, there was not much difference from first day. But there was a Public Health Campaign on the street yelling some words in Japanese about health.

The next day was the Opening Ceremony, Symposium, Competition and Workshop. The Symposium was about tricycle to deal with lifestyle-related diseases. Starting with prevention until treatment using over-the-counter drugs and pharmacy’s role in it. After that, Participants went to different workshops. Last event of the day was International night in Camelot Club, Shibuya. Exciting is the only word you can use to describe what happened on that night.Japanese night was where Participants could join real festivities of the Japanese Summer Festival. There were famous Japanese street foods like Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki and also Japanese fox and mask dance. It was fun: D

APPS 2013 IN JAPAN

Auction night was very special because of the Miss Contest. The 5 finalists came from different coun-tries and had to perform during Japanese night. The winner was Yvone from Indonesia. Also all the proceed from the auction went to a charity in Japan.

22

(First picture I saw on Haneda airport. Dragon Ball!)

Carissa PurabayaBEM Kemafar UNPAD

APRONewsletter

On the 4th day, we went on a field trip to Meiji-Jingu Shrine, Asakusa shrine, and Kusuri museum.

On the 5th day, the final PCE and symposium III were held. Symposium III was about medicine for neglected diseases that is rare but important to consider. Gala night that day was bittersweet because it’s last event in APPS. Everyone looked nothing short of Gorgeous.

Japan has so many temples/shrines and each of them has different characteristics or story that’s interesting to explore. In short, APPS in Japan was the greatest experience for me, and thank you so much for all committees that has made APPS happen. Thank you for all your hard work. And for Participants see you again! :D

23

APRONewsletter

APPS ExperienceBest Summer Ever!

I always wanted to visit Japan. Japan is one of three countries that I want to visit in my life besides South Korea and France. As luck would have it I heard there’ll be APPS 12th in Chiba, Japan. As soon as I knew this, I decided to attend and signed up in the 1st registration period.

After an 8 hour flight from Indonesia, I arrived at Haneda International airport on 21th August 2013 at 11 pm. Since I arrived on midnight, I decided to stay in airport until the next morning. At 8 am, APPS Committee picked us up to hotel by bus. I felt tired, but that was all gone when I met students from other Asia Pacific countries and even from Denmark and Algeria; all with different skin, cultures and languages.

IPSF and APRO is a big and important organization especially for Asia Pacific region. By joining and participating in the IPSF program, pharmaceutical students can give contributions to improve quality of health and pharmacies in their own country. I also learned more about IPSF from discussion with other CPs and SEOs from some Asia-Pacific coun-tries by attending the Regional Meeting and SEO Workshops. I don’t have a chance to participate in the public health campaign because as an official delegate; I could only attend Regional meetings, Symposiums and CP/SEO workshop.

With Ryoko Ebisu, Lisa Matsuda and Khoirunnissa at welcoming party

I hope at the next APPS, I can join in a public health campaign and attend some interesting workshops.

My favorite event at APPS was Japanese Night. At Japanese night, I saw real Japanese culture and dance. I also was able to eat many famous Japanese food such as Okonomiyaki,Takoyaki, Choco Banana and much more and they all tasted so yummy! Haha :D

I met many people from different Asia-Pacific coun-tries. There are two girls that I become really close with since the first day of APPS. They are Ryoko Ebisu and Lisa Matsuda. They’re both from Osaka, Japan. They were really nice like all Japanese people. They taught me some Japanese phrases, which were really helpful and they showed me nice places around Tokyo. Even though APPS has ended, we promised to keep in touch with each other.

I visited some cities around Tokyo. They were Shibuya, Asakusa, Harajuku and Akihabara. I went to Shibuya on free night with my Algerian, Taiwanese and Japanese friends. It was crowded but nice city, every crosswalk in Shibuya for 24 hours always full with people, I called it “never sleeps city”. There are many stores open until late midnight. I went to the famous hachiko statue and took photos there.

Yummy Takoyaki :d

24Amanita Khoiril Hana

BEM KMFA UGM

APRONewsletter

During Explore Japan, I visited Asakusa. It’s calm city with some cultural places like Sensoji Temple, Five Storied Pagoda, and Nakamise shopping street which was full of interesting Japanese things. Beside Asakusa, I also visited Honjo Life Safety Learning Center. I experienced so many disaster simulation such as earthquake, flood, typhoon, fire and how to escape in such situations. I was in Group E with Madoka as group leader and other cool APPSparticipants. We talked, laughed and went along so well. I miss you all guysss :’)

Japanese people are all so nice. They are very helpful, organized, tolerant and nice. Two phrases that they often say are “Arigatou Gozaimasu” and “Gomenasai”. These mean “thank you” and “sorry”. What I learned from them is we have to thank people who have helped us and say sorry whenever we make mistakes.

Last but not least, Thank you Allah and my family for always support me. I would also like to give thanks to IPSF, APRO and APS-Japan for giving me a chance to attend this precious event. This was the best and an unforgettable summer journey for me! <3Hachiko Statue

Honjo Life Safety Learning Center with Group E <3

Kaminarimmon,Asakusa with Ryoko Ebisu and Imine

25

APRONewsletter

APPS Experience Natruethai LaithongPSUT Thailand

I am an APPS participant from Silpakorn university, Thailand. I am really happy that I had a part in this symposium because it was my first time experiencing both APPS and Japan. I got so much from this experience during my 7 day stay in Japan. Surely, I gained new knowledge from the workshop and the symposium. Furthermore I also made new friends from other countries and learnt about their languages and cultures. The entire time I was at the symposium, I realised a lot. The first thing was about the activity that was being held, and it is to use the duration of each symposium or workshop properly, not too long to make sure every activity including parties are not boring. I enjoyed the “international night” a lot, because I was able to dress up in the beautiful dress that I don’t usually get to wear frequently in my country. One of the most unforgettable impressions was of the “APPS staff”, they took care of all of us in a friendly and perfect manner. I would like to thank them all for working hard to hold this symposium.

I know that this is a very big task for all of the APPS staff to handle such a big project with hundred of participants from many country, but it was done well. It was a wonderful experience for my life, l got new friends from many different countries and one of the special things was travelling and shopping in Japan. Thank you again, APPS staff, for giving me and all participants the best experience, at the unforgettable symposium “APPS 2013 in Japan”.

26

APRONewsletter

APPS Experience

“In what year are you?”

“First year”

“Really? I thought you are in the second year”

Yes, that was part of a conversation that me and another APPS participant had. From what I saw, most of the participant who attended APPS were from second year and above. So, I felt a little bit feel inferior. Because they had more experience than me, they had very good communication skill as well and I felt I had nothing. But, there I was at the 12th APPS Japan. I did what the others in the first year couldn’t.

My name is Khoirunnissa Hidayati from BEM KMFA UGM, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I actually knew of IPSF before I got into College. It was on a holiday after High School graduation. I was really interested in International Organizations, so when I found out about IPSF I was super exited. I asked my seniors in college about it when school started, they told me that I should join BEM if I want to know more about IPSF. I signed up immediately after they held open recruitment. Now I am in the International Affairs Department of BEM KMFA UGM as staff.

Before I got accepted as staff at BEM KMFA, one of my seniors Shofy Rahmadani Putri who was a member of BEM KMFA at International Affairs Department told me about APPS, and she suggested that I apply. And it turns out I was accepted at BEM KMFA on International Affairs Department. The Recent CP Siti Nur Mufyda appointed me as the chairperson of the APPS delegation. It was an honor for me, considering I still in my first year and know nothing. She trusted that I could handle this, and I won’t let her down. I did my best to make it successful.

One day, I got the news from my CP about the Development Fund Grant. At first, I did not really give it any attention because I thought I wouldn’t get this DF Grant. But, Fyda told me to give a shot, maybe I can get it. Then I applied as Fyda’s suggested. One or two months later I got an email from Fyda “I already got an email from Milanka, and this is the result! there are so much recipient from BEM KMFA UGM Indonesia. CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!!! :D”. And I felt like, what? seriously? I felt so happy and blessed, this Grant could offset the cost of my trip.

At the last APPS I applied as Regional Project Office subcommittee but unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to be subcommittee this year. But I will apply again next year. After this experience, I want to know more about IPSF. I was hooked by events held by IPSF. It give me so many wonderful and unforgettable moments. If I get another opportuni-ty to participate in another IPSF event, I will do it gladly.

27Khoirunnissa Hidayanti

BEM KMFA UGM

APRONewsletter

From APPS, I learn a lot from how the system works in IPSF, how we discussed about the motions and how important is our voice in this organization. I did not know that young people could be act like such professionals during the Regional Meeting. They looked very serious, very active and full of passion. It encourage me to get better and better in the future.

Last but not last, I want to say thank you to all of the APPS Reception Committee who makes this event awesome and to all my friends around Asia-Pacific. I wouldn’t forget this. Viva la Pharmacie!

28