Projected niches emerging in pharmacy education among ASEAN countries

Abstract

This short report aimed to describe the impacts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) integration on the Pharmacy education (PE) landscape in the ASEAN region. This report synthesised literature, included journal articles and articles on web pages, and was directed to identify gaps regarding PE harmonisation in the ASEAN region. Later, the authors added the COVID-19 pandemic effects, as this report was written during the outbreak. This report describes two essential points of PE harmonisation, i.e. 1) Variations of PE programmes among ASEAN state members; 2) Contributions of forums involving PE institutions in the ASEAN region. Several gaps were identified in this report. How prepared are the pharmacists and educators? How could the existing PE forums contribute to the collaboration and harmonisation among PE institutions in the region? What can be learned from this current pandemic situation to move forward to the harmonisation in the post-pandemic era?