September is Pharmacy Month

The pharmacy is more than a place where patients go to collect their medicines. Similarly, pharmacists and Pharmacy Support Personnel add value across the health care system. Their contribution and impact are made in the discovery of new medicines and therapeutics, the manufacturing of medicines and medical devices, the distribution of these life-saving products from where they are made to where they are needed, and their management, prescription and dispensing to patients.

September is Pharmacy Month: Ask Your Pharmacist

The pharmacy is more than a place where patients go to collect their medicines. Similarly, pharmacists and Pharmacy Support Personnel add value across the health care system. Their contribution and impact are made in the discovery of new medicines and therapeutics, the manufacturing of medicines and medical devices, the distribution of these life-saving products from where they are made to where they are needed, and their management, prescription and dispensing to patients. As medicines experts, pharmacists also counsel their peers in clinical settings and patients alike on the effective and beneficial use of medicines. Pharmacy Month is an awareness month aimed at educating members of the public and other professionals about the value they can derive from pharmacy professionals in order to improve public health and patient’s healthcare outcomes.

The 2026 Pharmacy Month theme is: “Ask Your Pharmacists. Your pharmacist – your partner in health”. The determination of the theme followed wide consultation with the pharmacy profession as part of the 2025/6 South African Pharmacy Council Stakeholder Perception Survey and Communication Audit, wherein 1 531 of the survey participants submitted theme suggestions. The theme suggestions where analysed and considered by a working group comprising the National Department of Health, South African Pharmacy Council, Independent Community Pharmacy Associations, Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, and representatives from various sectoral organisations. The working group arrived at “Ask Your Pharmacists. Your pharmacist – your partner in health” as it resonated with the majority of the theme suggestions.

Poster and pamphlet messaging emphasised the role of the pharmacist as a medicines expert that the public and other healthcare professionals should rely upon for expertise on medicines and wellbeing. The importance of the role that the whole pharmacy team plays in providing pharmaceutical services was also chiefly highlighted in the Pharmacy Month material.

The Pharmacy Month material highlights the role of the pharmacy team in provide expert advice on safe medicine usage, screening and prevention services, managing chronic conditions and over health and wellness.

Pharmacy Month are now available

The Pharmacy Month message is available in all the 12 official languages of South Africa, two Khoi and San languages, and copies of the poster and pamphlet are available in Braille. Posters and pamphlets in 13 languages and an MP4 South African Sign Language video may be downloaded for at www.sapc.za.org/PharmacyMonth. Printed Braille copies may be ordered for free from the South African Pharmacy Council, by emailing CommMedia@sapc.za.org.