IBSA supports the Banco Farmaceutico to bring hope and solidarity: medicine collection day is back from 9 to 15 February

This year, IBSA feels an even greater responsibility to support the Medicine Collection Day organised by the Banco Farmaceutico, on account of the unprecedented number of people facing hardship due to the current health emergency.

In 2020, the collection took place between 4 and 10 February, when no one could have imagined that in little over a month the entire world would have changed. Last year’s edition led to the collection of 541,000 packs of medicinal products, allowing 473,000 Italians facing financial difficulties to treat their illnesses.

There is no point trying to hide the fact that this year the collection will be more challenging, due to the need to continue observing social distancing rules and because, unfortunately, there has been a great rise in the number of people who people need medicines that they cannot afford. According to the World Economic Outlook, worldwide 90 million people will slump into "extreme poverty" as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fortunately, for now, this is a mere forecast that, whilst being founded on real data and credible estimates, is something that we can still prevent from happening, if we take decisive action to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. Participating in the Banco Farmaceutico is undoubtedly a good way to help Italy and Italians deal better with 2021. To achieve this, we all have to do our part and bring others, first and foremost, hope.
Small actions, but on a regular basis; in other words, we all have to give our best. Time, commitment, material resources, even a simple gesture of goodwill, can make a real difference.

This is why the words that we will increasingly frequently speak in 2021 will be HOPE and PARTICIPATION. Hope that things will take a turn for the better, participation because the more numerous we are, the better we will overcome the difficulties.

Last year, at the end of the week, we had written 39,000 thank yous in our book of hope and participation, one for each of the 24,000 volunteers and the 15,000 pharmacists who took part in #GRF2020. This year, we want to write many more. Let’s start right away: THANK YOU to anyone who shares this article, because they will have carried hope like a flag and promoted participation as a solution!