Background In 2002 Apoteket AB the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies will carry out a thematic year about Arthritis/Rheumatism in co-operation with Reumatikerförbundet the Swedish Rheumatism Association, the SRA. There are 884 pharmacies in Sweden and our 24 regional and 201 local associations have several pharmacies to co-operate with.

The King of Sweden is patron of the thematic year and will inaugurate it in January 2002.

Objectives The qualitative objectives of the thematic year are:

That the SRA is perceived as an active disability association with a broad variety of activities for all age groups. That the SRA take good care of our members, especially considering the newly recruited members. Improved medicine usage

We have several quantitative objectives, for instance:

Rheumatic diseases and their consequences are well-known. Suggested measures from the SRA in order to improve the situation of people with rheumatic diseases is well-known in society. To recruit new members and reach a membership of 60000 members.

More active members in the age group of 50 years or less. At least 1000 activities together with Apoteket AB during the thematic year.

Methods During 2001 we will prepare the thematic year within the SRA by making all the necessary preparations through education, seminars and conferences. We want our 24 regional and 201 local associations to be involved and prepared in all the activities together with the Pharmacies. Externally we prepare for the thematic year through a national conference together with the Pharmacies. This conference will be followed by regional and local conferences all over Sweden. The activities during the year 2002 will mainly focus on the local perspective, the majority of the activities will take place in co-operation between the local pharmacy and the SRA local associations. We will produce at catalogue of activity proposals and deliver it throughout the SRA and create a contributory bank with names and the subject area of lecturers, specialists and experts to employ for meetings, seminars etc.

Some examples of activities are:

Seminars about different rheumatic diagnoses. Members inform about their local association at a pharmacy. Local actions about the lack of proper treatment and rehabilitation possibilities for people with rheumatic diseases. A research-site on our website.

Results The results are connected to our objectives and we will try measure whether we have reached them through surveys before and after the thematic year. This will be the basic data for decision-making when we evaluate the thematic year and try to implement good practices and activities in the SRA. The recruitment objective is easily monitored every month through our membership register. One long-term result will hopefully be continuing local co-operation between pharmacies and local associations within the SRA and continues co-operation in seminars, conferences and medical projects.

Conclusions At the moment the only possible conclusions to be drawn are about the preparation process and we can identify a great interest from our members and Apoteket AB to carry out a successful thematic year together.