Renowned pharmacist, healthcare strategist and entrepreneur, Dr.Adetutu Afolabi, has challenged Nigerian pharmacists to redefine their role in the country’s healthcare system by embracing innovation, leveraging technology and making their contributions more visible to improve patient care and strengthen health outcomes.

Speaking at a gathering of pharmacy directors and hospital leaders from Federal Health Institutions across Nigeria, Dr. Afolabi said pharmacists were already making significant contributions to healthcare by preventing medication errors, improving patient outcomes, optimising therapies and reducing healthcare costs, but noted that much of their impact remained unrecognised because it was not adequately documented or communicated.

According to her, “Pharmacy does not have a value problem; pharmacy has a visibility problem. Every day, pharmacists prevent medication errors, improve patient outcomes, optimize therapies, reduce healthcare costs, and save lives. Yet much of that value remains unseen because it is not consistently measured, communicated, or translated into evidence that healthcare leaders can act upon. To change this narrative, we need to tell our stories of impact loudly and clearly.”

Delivering a plenary lecture titled, “The Future-Ready Pharmacist: Driving Value Through Innovation, Wellness and Collaboration,” Dr. Afolabi aligned her presentation with the conference theme, “Pharmacy Excellence in Nigeria: Strengthening Collaboration, Driving Transformation.”

She identified rising healthcare costs, the growing burden of chronic diseases, rapid advances in artificial intelligence, shortages of healthcare workers and the global transition to value-based healthcare as major factors requiring pharmacists to adapt and expand their roles.

Drawing lessons from countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Spain, Afolabi highlighted how legal and institutional reforms had enabled pharmacists to take on expanded responsibilities such as independent prescribing for chronic diseases, vaccine administration, population health management and closer collaboration with other healthcare professionals.

She urged Nigerian pharmacists to embrace artificial intelligence, adopt data-driven clinical decision-making, prioritise preventive healthcare and strengthen multidisciplinary partnerships to improve healthcare delivery and accelerate reforms within the sector.

Dr. Afolabi concluded with a call on the next generation of pharmacists to become agents of transformation rather than custodians of the status quo.

“We have inherited a proud profession. Our responsibility is not merely to preserve it but to advance it, to create value, to lead innovation, to champion wellness, to influence policy, and to transform healthcare. When the story of healthcare transformation in Nigeria is written, may it be said that this generation of pharmacists chose not merely to practice pharmacy, but to redefine what pharmacy could become,” she said.