Author: Yeong Seo Kim, Izzatul Khohirunnisa

Following the strategic partnership between AYPG and PharmCare announced in April, the first joint webinar—“Smart Health Tools: Empowering Pharmacists and Patients for Safer Drug Use”—clearly demonstrated the practical value and scalability of the Drug Icon project. The event highlighted not only the conceptual foundations of Drug Icons but also their real-world applications and future potential.

The webinar focused on how Drug Icons can deliver meaningful health outcomes. These visual symbols are designed to communicate medication information—such as dosage, frequency, and precautions—in a way that is intuitive and easy to understand, especially for individuals who struggle with reading or interpreting medical text. By improving patient comprehension, Drug Icons help increase medication adherence and promote safer, more effective medicine use. This initiative originated from R&D led by public health interns at HKU and was further refined through interviews with over 500 users and professionals. The project has since progressed into field trials, with multilingual materials developed to support diverse patient populations. The Drug Icon CC initiative enhances physical labeling with online workshops and educational kit distribution, combining passive visual aids with active educational engagement.

Mr. Albert Au, founder of PharmCare, also introduced the company’s SaaS platform during the webinar. He presented a broader vision to reduce information inequity in primary care using an AI-powered medication management app. PharmCare aims to improve care coordination, medicine availability, safety, and patient awareness—leveraging visual tools like Drug Icons to bridge communication gaps in healthcare. Pharmacists were encouraged to adopt Drug Icons in daily practice, engage in public education, advocate for policy changes, and amplify impact via social media outreach. For those interested in integrating Drug Icons into their professional settings, all related materials are freely available under a Creative Commons license. These resources—including icons and user guides—can be downloaded from the Resources tab on the official Drug Icons website. Visit link(https://drugicon.cc/) to access the full library and start implementing the tools today.[1] 

The live Q&A session following the presentations featured dynamic discussions around government collaboration, differentiation from similar services, and future expansion plans. Participants pointed out operational challenges, such as implementation costs and limited packaging space. Nevertheless, the consensus was that with adequate support—such as templates, training sessions, and clear guidelines—widespread adoption would be both feasible and beneficial. Post-webinar survey results reinforced the program’s relevance. A large majority of attendees (78.3%) found the topic “very relevant” to their work, with another 17.4% rating it “somewhat relevant.” Overall satisfaction was high: 82.6% of respondents gave the webinar a 5/5 rating, while 15.2% rated it 4/5. The most valued takeaway was learning how Drug Icons can improve patients’ understanding of medication instructions. When asked about future topics, respondents prioritized patient education tools and strategies(76.1%), digital health solutions in pharmacy(69.6%), improving medication adherence(58.7%), and social innovation in healthcare(50%), indicating strong demand for practice-oriented programming. For those who missed the live event or wish to revisit the content, the full webinar recording is available on YouTube. Watch the session here(https://youtu.be/kNIc9cZvgeA?si=iU6arRv7JScrZ5vz).[2] 

AYPG will continue working closely with PharmCare to expand the implementation of DrugIcon in pharmacy practice. We encourage early-career pharmacists to join us in this initiative, if you are interested in stepping up and contributing, please feel free to reach out at secretariat@asianypg.org.

AYPG extends sincere thanks to PharmCare and all members who contributed to organizing this successful event. Going forward, the two organizations will continue their collaboration through co-branded programs, webinars, and educational campaigns to help young pharmacists across the Asia-Pacific promote safe and effective medication use.

To better serve our community, AYPG has also launched a short survey here (https://forms.gle/TCyMAjK6f4VepKKf8[3] ) to collect feedback on future webinar topics. Your input will help ensure that upcoming content is both relevant and engaging to your professional needs. We warmly invite you to take a few minutes to share your thoughts and shape the next phase of AYPG–PharmCare collaborations.

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