|
|
|
Members’ corner is a new feature within the newsletter that brings the regional network up to date on recent events in the lives of some HAI’s members.
Patti Rundall, Policy Director for Baby Milk Action, has received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) award for her “services to infant nutrition”. Rundall and Baby Milk Action have worked closely with HAI on development issues and promotion campaigns for many years.
The OBE is awarded in recognition of outstanding services to the community. Rundall who started at the organisation in 1980 as a volunteer, now directs its policy. She has campaigned on legislation in the UK and Europe and on actions such as the Nestlé boycott.
HAI Europe members will be deeply saddened by the news that Norwegian contact, Guttorm Folkedal died in a traffic accident this June. His good friend, Kirsten Myhr, also a Norwegian HAI member, provided HAI-Lights with a glimpse of a dedicated member who will be greatly missed.
“Guttorm became a true internationalist when working in Mozambique some years ago. He returned several times as part of international missions and with his knowledge of Portuguese he was of particular value to former Portuguese colonies.
He has been a keen advocate in trying to persuade Norwegian colleagues to show international solidarity and not be afraid of international challenges. Last year he facilitated the cooperation between the University of Tromso Pharmacy School and the University of Medunsa in South Africa. The result was that two Norwegian pharmacy students did their MSc study in a hospital in South Africa this year. Guttorm was to examine the students when they sat for exams in June.
At home he was a dedicated hospital pharmacist with a mission to bring clinical pharmacy in Norway a step forward. At the time of his death, he had just received acceptance for, and started to operate satellite pharmacy stations on the main wards—we had even planned that I should go there and assist him this summer.
Besides his work as a hospital pharmacy director, he was instrumental in the establishment and running of LIS, a pool procurement service for a majority of Norwegian hospitals.
Not only was he a dedicated professional, at home with his wife and three children, he participated actively in several activities from choir and corps to sports.
Guttorm’s aim was to dedicate more of his time to international work once his family situation would allow it. He was looking forward to his sabbatical next year when he planned to go abroad. His death is a tragic loss to his family, to pharmacy in Norway and internationally and to all of us who valued him as a professional and dear friend.”
Dr. Oscar Lanza van Den Berge has received the Olle Hansson award for his national and international work promoting rational drug use and consumer rights. Lanza is the founder/coordinator of HAI/AIS Bolivia and a professor of public health at the University of Mayor de San Andres’s Medical School. He has carried out campaigns on unethical drug promotion and irrational drug use and was instrumental in the eventual enactment of national legislation on drug promotion, prescribing rules and the use of essential drugs.
The award is named after a Swedish paediatric neurologist internationally known for his advocacy on behalf of SMON victims who were paralysed or blinded after using clioquinol, an antidiarrhoeal drug. The honour is given to recognise the work of an individual from a developing country who best demonstrates the qualities of Hansson in promoting the rational use of drugs.
