An interest group is any formally configured group of individuals working jointly through an organization to achieve common interests. An interest group’s main aim could be having either a group of members or a particular society segment’s exclusive welfare. For example, a quest for government subsidies for small scale farmers. This is achieved by pressuring policymakers to consider their objectives. Hence, displaying the hand-in-hand relationship between the government and interest groups (Berkhout et al., 2019).
An illustration of an interest group is the Trades Union Congress in the United Kingdom. It is a prominent existing labor group that represents the majority of the trade unions. Its outlined strong focus is supporting development and prosperity in trade unions and individuals working to earn a living. It seeks for a country with better job opportunities, equality as well as improved economic conditions. The interest group achieves its aims through various ways, such as holding demonstrations, collective bargaining, labor supply restrictions, among others, including having campaigns. For example, the drive to protect workers’ health, occupations, and livelihoods during this Coronavirus pandemic, among others.
The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Pharmacy Therapy is one of the recent news interest groups. This is in line with its position statement on the highly contagious global Covid-19 pandemic. According to Mahmoudjafari et al. (2020), it aims at providing cellular therapy pharmacy practice management for transitioning service delivery. It suggested exercising telemedicine capacities to maintain equal clinical practice levels among patients. This could as well help minimize the spread of the virus. It also recommended collaborative working with the clinical pharmacy professionals to ensure service administration safety to the acquirers. With the challenging conditions resulting from the Covid-19 period, the organization concluded with the call for vigilance in the pharmacy clinical services delivery to the risk groups. It also emphasized allegiance to the provision of humane and safe care for cellular therapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients.
References
Berkhout, J., Hanegraaff, M., & Statsch, P. (2019). Explaining the patterns of contacts between interest groups and political parties: Revising the standard model for populist times. Party Politics, 135406881985660. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068819856608
Mahmoudjafari, Z., Alexander, M., Roddy, J., Shaw, R., Shigle, T., Timlin, C., & Culos, K. (2020). American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Pharmacy Special Interest Group Position Statement on Pharmacy Practice Management and Clinical Management for COVID-19 in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Patients in the United States. Biology Of Blood And Marrow Transplantation, 26(6), 1043-1049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2020.04.005