Pharmacist Role In Developing Countries Health And Social Care Essay

Pharmacist Role In Developing Countries Health And Social Care Essay Introduction: Since last decades despite tremendous advancements in medical technology, the global health status needs to be revamped. The commitment of the majority of World Health Organization (WHO) member countries to the Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978 advocates the concept of health for all. Unfortunately the fundamental doctrine of the declaration is failed to be reaffirmed by some of the developing countries.1 The developing nations harbor 80% of the worlds population and it been estimated that 2.7 billion people living in this part of the world thrive on less than US$2 a day.2,3,4 This, in turn, contributed to lack of access to efficient healthcare services among these populations. Moreover, in most of these developing countries, the deliveries of effective healthcare services are compromised due to incompetent and non-qualified healthcare providers. Apart from the need to understand the pathophysiology of disease and their treatment modalities, healthcare providers necessitate to comprehend the local environment or/and culture in order to achieve the desired therapeutic outcomes. Therefore, the reorientation and reconstruction of healthcare professionals education and training to generate socially motivated healthcare providers is the need of time. Pharmacist role in developing countries: In the beginning of the 6th century BC, humans started a several-centuries-process of compiling pharmacological knowledge that contributed towards public health.5 The scope of pharmacy practice encompasses areas of compounding and dispensing medications, services related to patient care including clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information. Generally, the existing medical education system produces professionals which have a tendency towards clinical practice or either specialization. Preference is more towards treatment rather than prophylaxis. Moreover, professional training emphasized on subject-centered curriculum linked with high technology and therefore, trainees come in contact with patients usually at the end of the training. As a result, the role of pharmacists in healthcare system is generally bleak, but perhaps more so in developing and transitional economies. Still in some places pharmacists are increasingly assuming their role as health care workers. Their services include more patient-oriented, administrative and public health functions. This successful transition in pharmacy practice is the result of the implementation of educational programs aimed at making them responsive to the needs of the majority of the population6. In the context of developing countries, pharmacy profession only captured the imagination of only a small segment of the population as a vibrant healthcare profession. For instance, although HIV/AIDS is rampantly prevalent in many developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America, still pharmacist in these countries is underutilized as healthcare workforce in prophylactic campaigns. Furthermore, issues of public health dimensions that need collective action via intensive efforts of pharmacists and other healthcare team members are nearly non-existent in developing countries. This might be due to the fact that both public and other healthcare practitioners perceived that pharmacists are not well positioned to take such an active role in public health initiatives that are generally considered to be the domains of doctors and nurses preferably7. Lately, with the tremendous evolution of pharmacy practice in developed nations such as the UK, Australia and US, it thus becomes evident that pharmacists can contribute more towards Health for All agenda. Furthermore, there has been a great move by health policy makers and educators in developing skills and attitudes which are necessary to meet the healthcare needs of the majority of the people. This change has also influenced many developing countries to follow the trend. Therefore, within the last two decades extensive transitions had been observed in pharmacy curricula globally, mainly with the incorporation of social and behavioral sciences at many pharmacy schools Although a complete discussion linking social sciences with pharmacy is not possible in a single document, we try to provide a brief historical background on social pharmacy and pharmacy practice as well as the importance of social sciences in health. In the current document the authors discuss few case studies from developed countries which establish the relevant link of social and behavioral sciences to pharmacy curricula and, therefore, the importance of social sciences in pharmacy curriculum can thus be ascertained. The authors will also enumerate the achievements of the Universiti Sains Malaysia in incorporating social pharmacy subjects in undergraduate pharmacy education. Recent history of social sciences and pharmacy education: Since the early 1980s, efforts were undertaken to find out which areas of pharmacy practice can greatly contribute in pharmacy training. Among many recommendations, an independent committee of inquiry established under the aegis of the Nuffield Foundation advocated that social and behavioral science should be incorporated into the pharmacy undergraduate curriculum. Defined as the scientific study of human behavior, behavioral science is often associated with disciplines which deal with people and society including psychology, sociology and anthropology. Sociology studies an individuals actions as a social phenomenon, whereas behavior is explained and shaped by the society in which we evolve; reason for which, sociologists prefer to use the term social action in place of behavior. Behavioral science also includes social psychology and interpersonal communication. According to Morrall,8 the discipline of sociology demystifies the nature of health and illness, determines the social causes of disease and death, exposes power-factors and ethical dilemmas in the production of health care, and either directly or indirectly helps to create a discerning practitioner capable of more focused and competent decision making. Such a sociologically informed approach to health care is basically needed by all health workers including pharmacists. Due to this importance, institutions such as the schools of pharmacy and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain suggested that aspects of sociology should be incorporated into the pharmacy undergr aduate curriculum for adequately preparing pharmacy students for their future practice. In a related opinion, the Royal Pharmaceutical Societys Education Committee advocated that all schools of pharmacy in their undergraduate programs should include teaching on the social science aspects of pharmacy.9 Why sociology for pharmacists? : Inadequacies and disparities in health care systems are still a major threat to global public health. In response to this, the last decades had witnessed an increasing number of changes in the activities of pharmacists. In primary care activities compounding and formulation of medicines are not practiced anymore. As technological progresses have made the dispensing of medicines a more routine task, how much time pharmacists spend on this activity is questioned. In addition, the number of highly effective proprietary medicines available for sale from a pharmacy, which were previously only available on prescription, has increased and thus expected to increase still further. As such, it is predicted that in near future pharmacists will be able to prescribe medicines as supplementary prescribers in developing countries. These facts have led pharmacists to re-evaluate their roles, and to promote themselves as health professionals as they must consider them selves as experts in medicines capable to take the lead of patients health status and the outcomes of different therapeutic regimen. In secondary care, clinical and ward pharmacy have become important concepts, with pharmacists increasingly being integrated into the health care teams alongside acquiring specializations i.e. in drug information, oncology, paediatrics and radiopharmacy. The contribution of social science to pharmacy practice: Pharmacy services in developing countries could make a greater contribution to health care. Steps to ensure that pharmacy education provides students with the knowledge and skills to contribute to public health priorities of their local populations are increasingly seen as an important goal of pharmacy education. Clearly, in developing their professional skills in social and clinical pharmacy, students need to appreciate that patients will have their own beliefs, views, and perspectives about their health and use of medicines which might be important determinants of the success of any health promotion activities. These activities include development effective counseling and communication skills, enhancing medication compliance, improving the understanding of ones disease, encouraging patients to seek professional care, assisting patients in making informed decision, and enhancing pharmacy professionalism and leadership qualitie s. Global Case Studies Developed Countries In 1975, the study commission on pharmacy identified the need to incorporate the behavioral and social sciences in pharmacy alongside clinical practice. In the same year, the Council on Pharmaceutical Education included pharmacy administration, social and behavioral sciences in their indicative curriculum. As per 2004, the American Association of College of pharmacy10 incorporates many social and behavioral topics as required outcomes of pharmacy programs in the USA. In UK, the Nuffield Committee of inquiry into pharmacy decided behavioral sciences to be incorporated into undergraduate pharmacy curriculum in 1986. To date, social pharmacy is now taught in all schools of pharmacy and forms part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society ¢s indicative curriculum. A number of Northern and Eastern European countries introduced social pharmacy into their curricula in the mid-1970 ¢s11. In Sweden, courses were taught since 1957, dealing with social pharmacy and low/regulations in pharmacy which in 1970 transformed to social pharmacy. In Denmark, the first social pharmacy course was introduced in 1972-73 and by 1980 the course appeared in the course catalogue as social pharmacy with social science. In 1992, a chair in social pharmacy was established at Royal Danish School of Pharmacy. In Belgium, the concept of communication skills was introduced into the pharmacy fourth year students. A variety of methods that are used to assess pharmacy practice students , including a 6-month pharmacy internship, in which students are assessed by a preceptors report; a week-long workshop on communication and pharmacotherapy; a multiple choice exam on pharmacotherapy; and an open book oral exam. In the academic year 2000-01, the strongest correlations were between internship and oral exam performance. This trend continued in 2001-02, in addition to multiple choice exam correlating with both oral and internship performance. Developing Countries In the scenario of developing countries the contribution of pharmacy education in Malaysia is worth mentioning. The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is the first public university to offer a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy in Malaysia since 1972. To date, it has produced more than 2,000 pharmacy graduates which serve as local pharmacy workforce. The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences has a multi-disciplinary pharmacy curriculum designed to provide holistic training to  prepare students for life-long learning, and to equip them with broad scientific knowledge and essential skills. The integrated pharmacy program consists of basic science and pharmaceutical science subjects in the first two years of study, and progresses towards patient care and clinical pharmacy. In the third and fourth years, the students professional skills are linked to an advanced clinical and pharmacy practice. Hence the curriculum inculcates a high standard of pharmacy training in practical knowledge and profession al skills. The 4-year program covers 6 disciplines of study, namely Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Physiology, Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacy and Social and Administrative Pharmacy. Social and Administrative Pharmacy subjects were first incorporated in the curriculum in 1992-93 academic sessions and has been designed to prepare students for responsible leadership positions in academia, industry or public service.12 Hence this course equips the students for careers in governmental agencies, pharmaceutical firms, community pharmacies, universities, professional bodies and health insurance companies, all of which have a direct and indirect impact on the social fabric of the country. Students learn to give optimum services to the patients, as well as to make them aware about the prevention and cure of diseases. The Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy (DSAP) at USM is committed to promote research in drug use problems in developing countries.13 At present more than fifty postgraduate students from more than ten developing countries are being guided by the faculty members in carrying out drug-related research in their countries as well as in Malaysia. The priority areas of research of DSAP are multidisciplinary and include pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoepidemiology/ pharmacovigilance, socio-behavioral aspects of health and pharmacy, pharmaceutical care, outcomes research, quality of life assessment, decision analysis, and pharmaceutical management and marketing. Additional domains of research include pharmaceutical public policy, pharmaceutical education, pharmacoinformatics and pharmaceutical anthropology. Another striking example is the case of Ghana, where pharmacists are often the most easily accessible health professionals to give consultation on health problems14. The incorporation of a landmark health promotional module in pharmacy course in Kumasi, Ghana comprises of both classroom activity as well as outdoor field work. This field work component enables the student to prepare health promotional materials by visiting and observing their local population and thus identify and explore their local compromised resources. This module thus serves to prepare Challenges for social pharmacy: A good example of how social pharmacy faces challenges can be gained from the recent review by Puspitasari et al 15 , which focused on counseling given to patients who purchase prescription medicines from community pharmacies. Their data showed that the nature of researchers relationships with the profession, measures to improve community pharmacy practices, the importance of learning from other disciplines, and the need to internationalize our discipline challenge social pharmacy research works. In addressing the role of a pharmacy, some authors16, 17 have previously suggested that pharmacists should have an increasing role in patient care and that patient counseling is one of the cornerstones of this new role. The very wide variation in counseling rates found by Puspitasari and the colleagues (8 to 80% of patients received verbal counseling) suggests that this new role is carried out more in some settings than others. Social pharmacy research had pla yed and still continues to play an important role in documenting this practice variation. Based on these reports, one of the major challenges is how to improve the practice of those settings and practitioners who are currently lagging behind. Clearly, researchers dealing with social pharmacy and pharmacy practice tread a delicate line. In order to accomplish the research findings of social pharmacy into practice the relationship of the social pharmacist with the practitioners must be close and positive enough that practitioners must listen to and involve themselves in the implementation of findings in the hope of improvements in pharmacy practice. In addition, researchers need to be independent enough so that they can identify the need for improvement, and advocate in the interest of public health. Non-pharmacists social pharmacy researchers face an additional set of challenges and pressures which mainly include their own recognition within social pharmacy.18 As pointed out by Puspitasari et al,15 studies on improvements in community pharmacy practice are urgently needed. Previous studies highlighted that motivated, innovative pharmacists can provide effective secondary services, which are undoubtedly important; 19, 20 however, interventional research studies in order to assess or improve the performance of the present pharmacist or pharmacy assistants are the need of time. Substantial information on how to improve present pharmacy practice exists in other professions also, and this can be instrumental in bringing changes in social pharmacy. For instance, the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Review Group have a long-term experience in dealing with practice improvement.21,22 Overall, the major outcome of these works is the passive dissemination of information, i.e. written materials and lectures are not effective in changing practice. However, reminders and interactive educational meetings are effective strategies as they promote discussion and educational outreach. Multifaceted interventions tend to be more effective than single ones. Reviews of evidence on specific issues, such as interventions aimed at improving the use of antimicrobials have produced similar findings.23 Strategies for improving practice are a key concern in most health professions such as pharmacy, medicine, nursing, but are dealt with separately in each profession. Although differences may exist between professions and countries, practice researchers in each discipline can learn considerably by interacting with each other. Social pharmacy research is done in few developed countries: USA, UK, the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, and Canada. According to Ryan et al,11 social pharmacy is taught in seventeen countries those above plus four more Scandinavian countries, more European countries, New Zealand, and very few countries in the developing world. Thus the dissemination of social pharmacy research still remains a major challenge, especially in developing countries where there are documented problems in the purchase, distribution, and use of medicines. To overcome these problems, one possibility would be to establish strategic alliances with countries already working in these areas or with organizations such as the World Health Organization and Management Sciences for Health (www.msh.org) that have expertise, experience, and commitment to improve access to and use of medicines in developing countries. Conclusion: Social pharmacy program can be approached globally through various course types and formats. These courses make the students expose and explore societal concerns and health inequalities in their respective resource-deficient settings. Practical application of some components makes the student aware of the impact of sociodemographic on health and illness and inculcates sound understanding of the culture as well as social and moral obligations towards society in general and individual in particular. With regard to Universiti Sains Malaysia, constructive discussion to incorporate social-behavioral concepts and principles into other courses throughout the pharmacy curriculum can make the future prospects bright for social pharmacy. Students should be taught social pharmacy concepts and principles in every subject as pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoepidemiology, socio-behavioral aspects of health and ethical issues could and should be discussed during lectures and prior to clinical rotations. This shift in pharmacy practice from a product- to an information- and patient-based orientation affects patient knowledge, and increases liability and health care costs, which continue to place pharmacists in a position of great responsibility.

Fighting the Big-Box stores :: essays research papers

Introduction The Just family has operated our hardware store in this community for three generations. Our store has supported all of our family members very well in all of our years in business. We have recently been informed that Home Depot is planning on opening a new store in our community. The following is our plan of action to stay in business and continue to serve our community. Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently Home Depot is planning on opening a new store in our community. We foresee this posing a huge financial threat to our business. Being a small locally owned hardware store, we are not able to obtain huge volume discounts like the big box stores. Currently our hours of operation are significantly shorter than Home Depot. Home Depot is a nationally renowned name brand store, which in itself will be a significant hurdle to overcome. Home Depot has a huge advertising budget, which includes NASCAR sponsorships and national television advertisements. The paramount concern for us is the competition they will impose relative to our customer base. Current Situation Seymour currently has one other hardware store located in the heart of the city in addition to ours. Both of our businesses have the same hours of operation, which are Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm and 8am until noon on Saturday. Our store has seven employees currently. Four are very knowledgeable individuals with a total of 120 years of experience between them. Two other members work part-time throughout the week stocking shelves and cleaning, while the last employee does the paperwork and ordering for the store. A huge percentage of our customers look to us for advice on how to repair their problems. They value our expertise in plumbing, electrical, paint, and personalized customer service. We believe we have an advantage in this area. Currently, we don’t offer any other services except waiting on the customers, answering questions, and on a limited basis, filling small orders from a limited supply base. Possible Causes of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We believe that Home Depot’s purchasing power could be the biggest issue facing us. They are a multi-billion dollar industry dispersing products nationwide. The result is providing lower cost product to the customer, while at the same time offering convenient one-stop shopping. Alternative Approaches After doing some sole-searching and conducting some poles within the community, we have come up with some ideas that might help us overcome the competition with Home Depot.

Legal Actiobn toys vs Amazon Essay

1. Based on my research and also from reading the case for each conpany;s arguments that Toys â€Å"R† Us felt that there was a breach of contract because of Amazon.com took on another party to sell toys and Toys â€Å"R† Us felt that they were sole third party for this. They felt like the contract was breach also because Amazon.com did not follow the agreement. But Amazon.com felt that Toys â€Å"R† Us breach contract because they could not keep up with the demand of supplies and the levels of the demand. They felt this because Toys â€Å"R† Us could not keep products in stocks especially during the holidays. The judge ruling saying that both parties breach the agreement and saying that neither parties will get nothing is adqueate. In mhy opinion, I would have also terminate the agreement and not award any damages to either party because I feel that they both the agreement and they both were wrong. 2. I feel the outline for the advantages and disadvantages that Amazon.com would have considered before making any agreement with Toys â€Å"R† Us would be they would have checked to see if they can keep up with the demand of the customers and to make sure that they can have all the products in stock as well. I believe that an advantage was that Toys R† Us knew a lot about the Toy Marketing and what customers wanted. I also think that another advantage would be that Amazon.com was getting a percentage of the sales. I do feel that if Amazon.com had any doubts that they should have waited and done more research into Toys â€Å"R† Us. I also think that Amazon.com was confident and did not have any problems with going into an agreement with them, but if they knew that they were considering other Merchantss, that Amazon.com should have let Toys â€Å"R† Us know before signing agreement, so they could work a better deal with them. 3. Some recommendations that I would have made to Amazon.com that would have benefited both companies would be is that they should have looked at the sales that was coming in. I also would have also told them that they did to evaluate what Toys â€Å"R† Us would have lost as well not just them. I would have have agreed to half what was able asked instead of what they pay. I would have also said maybe we can give it another shot and see what Toys â€Å"R† Us wanted when it comes to other merchants that was selling toys as well.  They probably could have come up with a better agreement. Maybe include that they could have gotten a better deal with working along side with the other merchants and maybe the profits would have been better. 4. I would have kept it going because since was highly successful shoe retailer. It could have benefited Amazon.com a lot. This way that it could have brought money that was being lost when the agreement was terminated with Toys â€Å"R† Us. I would have kept the form becaise it was well thought out and it was doing so well. Amazon.com could have done a lot with Zappos and that it could have brought more customers and that it could have been a huge profit in. I know for me if I would have brought Zappos that I would have made sure that Zappos would stay running and that my customers would know that there was a place for them to shop at to get shoes from. I also feel that it could have benefit from Amazon.com. Amazon.com could have showed the person or persons who was running it ways to better it, if Amazon.com felt that the form was not good. This would have been good for both.

7 Steps to Creating a Great Personal Brand

7 Steps to Creating a Great Personal Brand Whether you’re selling products or your own services, it’s important to cultivate your own brand, consistent across your online presence. Your brand creates the image of you and your work that you want out in the world. Still confused? Here are a few no-nonsense strategies for building your brand online.1. Make it pretty.The first thing you’ll need to think about is the visual. You won’t necessarily need a professional logo design, but you’ll want to think about colors, illustrations, fonts, and icons that you’ll use and how they support what’s most meaningful about your brand. Try to keep all these details consistent across all your media platforms.2. Keep it organized.No matter how gorgeous your website is, it’s not really well designed unless it’s user-friendly and easy to navigate. Don’t make a boring version of a cookie-cutter template, but try to make sure your bells and whistles aren’t interfering wit h lots of different users learning more about what you do.3. Stay simple.Brevity is the soul of wit, after all. You might have a real wealth of information to share, but try to keep your content lean and mean. Make your sentences do triple work to get your message across in as little space as possible.4. Make it personal.Don’t just use stock photos or withhold any photos of you on your sites. Unique images and personal flourishes and detail can go a long way towards making people feel connected to your story and your brand.5. Find your voice.You want to not only be yourself, but the best version of yourself. Whether you’ll be speaking to your audience through words or images, figure out an authentic way to communicate that’s succinct and charming and will make people interested in what you have to offer. Be authentic and real and show and let whatever makes you unique shine through.6. Your work should speak for itself.Showcase whatever you are trying to promote- first and foremost. Make whatever you do obvious within the first few seconds of someone visiting your site.7. Make a statement.To make a vibrant and useful personal brand statement, you’ll want to answer a few questions first. What are you most passionate/care most deeply about? What top three attributes define how you get things done? What are your top 3 strengths and skills? And, finally: What differentiates you from your competition? What do you have going for you that no one else can offer? Use your answers to these questions to fashion a personal brand statement for yourself. Put this on your site.Put the time into crafting your brand and then it will speak and work for you!

During world war 2 essays

During world war 2 essays During World War 2, many children were moved from areas that were at risk from bombing. The children had to leave their families and go to live with strangers in less dangerous parts of the country. This was called evacuation. Some thought it would be fun and exciting, like an adventure. All the younger boys thought it was a holiday, but not sure why the women and girls were crying. However, many discovered that life away from home didnt turn out to be as good as they thought. The first school children were evacuated on the 1st September, 1939 which was the day Germany invaded Poland. In the first three days of September 1939, nearly 3,000,000 people were transported to the countryside, these were mostly children. Children under five went with their parents and schoolchildren went with their teachers. They thought that they would be home before Christmas. It was usually the poorer children which were not used to travelling. The more rich children were more used to travelling and being long distances away. Some parents even visited their children at weekends! Within a week, a quarter of the people living in Britain would have new homes. At the start of the war schools were moved together. The children wore identity labels, gasmasks hanging from their necks and a small suitcase full of clothes and food for the day. They left in the early in the morning when it was dark. Most of them were schoolchildren, who had been sent away were labelled like pieces of luggage, separated from their parents and accompanied by new people and teachers. They were just numbers in some peoples view! Most parents tried not to cry and some parents just couldn't let go. Parents gave instructions to their children, some of these were to look after their brother or sister and not to forget to write home. The teachers or supervisors kept the children happy and told them not to worry. Most Kids were in good moods. But that was...

Digital electronics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Digital electronics - Essay Example Another application for Flip-Flops is division frequency devices. From J-K flip-flop can be used to build a frequency divider by taking the output of one cell to the clock input of the next. The J and K inputs of each flip-flop are set to 1 to produce a toggle at each cycle of the clock input. For each two toggles of the first cell, a toggle is produced in the second cell, so its output is at half the frequency of the first. Specifically, the combination J = 1, K = 0 is a command to set the flip-flop; the combination J = 0, K = 1 is a command to reset the flip-flop; and the combination J = K = 1 is a command to toggle the flip-flop, i.e., change its output to the logical complement of its current value. Both PS and CLR HIGH, a negative-going CLK, and J and K at 0, or LOW. In this condition the FF holds the previous condition of the output. In this case the FF is reset. If the circuit were set when these inputs occurred, it would remain set. In the following experiment we build a binary counter using J-K flip-flops by taking the output of one cell to the clock input of the next. The J, K inputs of each flip-flop are set to 1 to get toggle at each clock pulse. For each two toggles of the first cell, a toggle is produced in the second cell, and so on. This produces a binary counter device. The count can be in forward or backward direction making a modification like shown below. The BCD counter showed above can be build using several binary counters but with a small modification, by terminating the count when the count reaches decimal 9 or binary 1001. Since the next toggle would set the two most significant bits a NAND gates tied from those two outputs to the asynchronous clear line will start the count over after 9. A 2-bit binary counter using two J-K flip-flops is done by taking the output Q of one J-K flip-flop to the clock input of the next. The J, K inputs of each flip-flop are set to 1 to

Affirmative Action Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Affirmative Action - Research Paper Example hold 69 % of white-collar positions, only 10 % of them are in the management position; in the private business sector, employees of Asian origin make up 87% of its professionals but only 1.3% of them are in the management position; generally, the ratio for employees holding white-collar positions in the US is 3 out of 7 employees, but for Blacks it is 1 of 7; Blacks get 50 % of menial jobs in the US such as garbage collectors and maids, and only 4% of managerial positions (Taylor 1991, National Center for Education Statistics 1990, Schwartz 1984, Vetter 1989, and Pave 1986, quoted in Beauchamp 1997, 216). While the US prides its self to be the epitome of freedom and equality with civil liberties deeply engraved in its constitution, data above clearly contradict this claim. Aiming to correct past mistakes and to pursue fairness and equality by taking legal measures against racial, religious and ethnic discrimination in employment (in the years to come, gender discrimination was also included) President John F. Kennedy, barely two months after assuming office, issued Executive Order 10925 on March 6, 1961 creating his Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity charged to take affirmative action that ensures the federal government and its contractors observe equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons in the government. This consequentially has institutionalized the US government’s commitment to affirmative action (Cohen 2003,12). President Kennedy’s Executive Order introducing affirmative action to the consciousness of the American people was followed by succeed ing Acts further institutionalizing affirmative action: The Civil Rights Act signed on July 2, 1964 and Executive Order 11246 issued on September 24, 1965 both by President Lyndon Johnson; and The Philadelphia Order initiated by President Richard Nixon in 1969 (Brunner 2007, 1). Thus, affirmative action has come to mean â€Å"positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and