SYLLABUS
SOCIAL PHARMACY
1. Introduction to Social Pharmacy:
- Definition and Scope. Social Pharmacy as a discipline and its scope in improving the public health. Role of Pharmacists in Public Health.
- Concept of Health –WHO Definition, various dimensions, determinants, and health indicators.
- National Health Policy – Indian perspective
- Public and Private Health System in India, National Health Mission
- Introduction to Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals, FIP Development Goals
2. Preventive healthcare: Role of Pharmacists in the following
- Demography and Family Planning
- Mother and child health, importance of breastfeeding, ill effects of infant milk substitutes and bottle feeding
- Overview of Vaccines, types of immunity and immunization.
- Effect of Environment on Health – Water pollution, importance of safe drinking water, waterborne diseases, air pollution, noise pollution, sewage and solid waste disposal, occupational illnesses, Environmental pollution due to pharmaceuticals
- Psychosocial Pharmacy: Drugs of misuse and abuse – psychotropics, narcotics, alcohol, tobacco products. Social Impact of these habits on social health and productivity and suicidal behaviours.
3. Nutrition and Health
- Basics of nutrition – Macronutrients and Micronutrients
- Importance of water and fibres in diet
- Balanced diet, Malnutrition, nutrition deficiency diseases, ill effects of junk foods, calorific and nutritive values of various foods, fortification of food
- Introduction to food safety, adulteration of foods, effects of artificial ripening, use of pesticides, genetically modified foods
- Dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, food supplements –indications, benefits, Drug-Food Interactions.
4. Introduction to Microbiology and common microorganisms
- Epidemiology: Introduction to epidemiology, and its applications. Understanding of terms such as epidemic, pandemic, endemic, mode of transmission, outbreak, quarantine, isolation, incubation period, contact tracing, morbidity, mortality.
- Causative agents, epidemiology and clinical presentations and Role of Pharmacists in educating the public in prevention of the following communicable diseases:
- Respiratory infections – chickenpox, measles, rubella, mumps, influenza (including Avian-Flu, H1N1, SARS, MERS, COVID-19), diphtheria, whooping cough, meningococcal meningitis, acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis, Ebola
- Intestinal infections – poliomyelitis, viral hepatitis, cholera, acute diarrheal diseases, typhoid, amebiasis, worm infestations, food poisoning.
- Arthropod-borne infections - dengue, malaria, filariasis and, chikungunya
- Surface infections – trachoma, tetanus, leprosy
- STDs, HIV/AIDS.
5. Introduction to health systems and all ongoing National Health programs in India, their objectives, functioning, outcome, and the role of pharmacists.
6. Pharmacoeconomics – Introduction, basic terminologies, importance of pharmacoeconomics
