What is the APhA-ASP’s IPSF: Diabetes and Healthy Living Campaign?
The diabetes and Healthy Living Campaign is an IPSF public health campaign that many countries participating in IPSF support. APhA-ASP decided to participate in this specific IPSF public health campaign due to the prevalence of diabetes in the United States of America.
Healthy living refers to providing patients with diet and exercise strategies to improve quality of life. According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million people (including children) have diabetes in the United States, 7 million people are undiagnosed for having diabetes, and according to the Centers of Disease Control more than one-third of adults are obese in the United
States. These facts show that student pharmacists like you can really impact the public through diabetes prevention and healthy living tips!
How can I get involved?
Easy! All you need is a couple of people who are interested in participating in these events. The best people to choose from are members of APhA-ASP as they are also members of
IPSF. Now it depends on what kind of event you would like to hold. If you want to educate the public, making a poster, handouts, or even providing exercise tips or food samples may be your best option. However, a PowerPoint may be more effective when talking to healthcare professionals like doctors or even other student pharmacists. It is important to target healthcare providers as much as patients because once armed with the knowledge, they can share the information with others and hopefully prevent Diabetes and promotes healthiness within the community. The target audience should dictate the type of presentation you share with others.
Checking out the resources you have available to assist with your project is a great place to start!
Where can I get information about Diabetes and Healthy Living Campaign?
Information for your presentation can be obtained from the APhA-ASP website. If you click the following link ( http://www.pharmacist.com/node/24076 ), this will take you to the
Operation Diabetes section of the APhA-ASP website. This is important because Operation
Diabetes is all about Diabetes awareness. For information about Health Living please refer to the
Operation Heart section of the APhA-ASP website (( http://www.pharmacist.com/node/24081 ).
This will help with the Healthy Living part of the APhA-ASP/IPSF Campaign. If you would like some facts about Diabetes internationally please contact your APhA-ASP/IPSF National Project
Coordinator at usaipsfnpc@gmail.com
. They will provide information about Diabetes nationally and internationally, Diabetes prevention, and more. So please do not hesitate to utilize any of these resources for help!
How can I relate this to my APhA-ASP Chapter?
One way to get healthy living promotion and diabetes prevention efforts started at your chapter would be to have your chapter’s IPSF Vice President work with Operation Diabetes and
Operation Heart. These patient care projects are focused on improving a patient’s quality of life through lifestyle modification. Collaboration with Operation Diabetes could focus on educating
APhAASP International Standing Committee ● 2215 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037 ● www.pharmacist.com

patients with Diabetes and providing food options (if you bring samples of food be cognizant of food allergies) for certain ethnicities (like Asians or Hispanics) that are appropriate for patients with Diabetes. When working with your chapter’s Operation Heart Coordinator look at Healthy
Living. This includes information like exercise activities or portion watching for a healthier diet and lifestyle. When IPSF and Operation Diabetes and Operation Heart work together a larger patient population can be targeted along with making a bigger impact in each patient’s life.
What if I have more questions?
If you have more questions, please contact your APhA-ASP/IPSF National Project
Coordinator at usaipsfnpc@gmail.com
.
APhAASP International Standing Committee ● 2215 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037 ● www.pharmacist.com