E-DRUG: Bangkok 8-22 October 2000 Community RDU course
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- Concerned about drug use problems in your community?
- Need to prioritize and tackle such problems but unsure how best
to do so?
- Want to learn more about do's and don'ts of a successful
intervention?
- Wish to share your experiences, and also learn from others?
- Would welcome some long-term support, alliances and
networking?
If your reply is "yes", then this brand new course is for YOU.
Developed by WHO's Department of Essential Drugs and
Medicines Policy and the University of Amsterdam, in
collaboration with experienced colleagues throughout the world,
the course has been two years in gestation. In a world in which up
to 8O% of medicines are purchased directly by consumers without
prescription, community education is vital. This course aims to
meet some key needs of people working to improve drug use in
the community, and identified by a recent WHO global survey and
country support.
These needs include how to effectively:
- identify and prioritize community drug use problems;
- choose and develop appropriate intervention strategies and
communication channels;
- pretest materials;
- evaluate impact;
- fundraise and network for support and sustainability.
This course teaches that there are no quick fixes; that interventions
must take into account the social and economic context in which
health and medicine seeking behavior take place, and be
developed with community input. It highlights that change is
usually incremental. So programme objectives may start with
awareness raising, move on to knowledge acquisition, and then
finally to behavioral change.
Materials and teachings will help participants to identify clear
objectives, based on realistic expectations of impact, in future
work. Participants will receive a full set of session materials and a
small core communications library to take back to their home
countries. Participants who later wish to replicate part or all of the
course in their own country can obtain a full set of teaching
materials at no additional cost.
Warning: don't confuse this course with the excellent and long
standing biannual WHO/INRUD course on Promoting Rational Drug
Use.
The entire focus of the new course is on public education; so it
targets people and organizations with a particular interest and
mandate to work with communities. However, as the new course
draws on and complements the successful approach of the
WHO/INRUD course, we expect quite a lot of valuable cross
fertilisation between the courses. Some participants who will wish
to follow both.
[Full course details are given below; WB]
For technical queries/further information contact:
Daphne Fresle, at fresled@WHO.ch or
Anita Hardon, at hardon@pscw.uva.nl
For administrative queries and applications contact
amma@pscw.uva.nl
Daphne Fresle
Policy, Access and Rational Use
Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
World Health Organization
-------- COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT
PROMOTING RATIONAL DRUG USE IN THE COMMUNITY
8-22 October 2000
Rose Garden Resort, Bangkok, Thailand
A two-week course for health programme staff from ministries of
health, universities, development agencies, non-governmental and
other organizations, and individuals interested in improving drug
use in the community.
Trainers: Daphne Fresle, Ane Haaland, Anita Hardon, Catherine
Hodgkin, John Hubley, Luechai Sringernyuang
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This ground breaking course was developed as a response to many
requests for such training and to a strongly identified need for focus
in this field. It concentrates on methods of studying and remedying
inappropriate drug use in the community including an essential
analysis of what shapes drug demand. Participants will learn
practical approaches to investigating and prioritizing drug use
problems, and how to develop effective strategies for education
and change.
COURSE DESIGN
The course is participatory in nature and uses the knowledge,
skills and experiences of participants as a major resource
throughout. Teaching methods will be group activities and field
work, presentations and discussions. Participants will spend the
two final days preparing a detailed plan of action to confront an
important community drug use problem in their country of origin.
The course will be conducted in English. Course materials were
developed by WHO and the University of Amsterdam, in
collaboration with course trainers and colleagues throughout the
world. Participants will thus be exposed to a wide range of
international experience and materials. The course complements
and follows a similar approach to the international training course
on promoting rational drug use held regularly by the International
Network for Rational Use of Drugs (INRUD) and WHO.
COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
Factors that shape drug demand Methods to identify community
drug use problems
How to prioritize drug problems
Field exercises to assess drug use Use of mass and folk media
Face-to-face education
Pretesting materials
Advocacy and networking
Planning and evaluating interventions
COURSE FEES AND APPLICATION
The fee of US$ 2950 covers tuition, course materials, shared
accommodation in a four-star hotel and all meals. Fee for local
participant without hotel accommodation, breakfast and dinner is
US$ 1500. Participants should plan to bring sufficient funds for
incidental expenses such as laundry, postage, telephone calls,
souvenirs, airport tax, etc. Airfare and health insurance are the
responsibility of the sponsoring organization.
Application forms are obtainable from the address below.
Applications and fees with cheques payable to UvA-PSCW-Sectie
Medische Antropologie, are due no later than l September 2000
and should be forwarded to:
University of Amsterdam
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Attn. Dr Ria Reis
Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185
1012 DK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 5254779
Fax: +31 20 5252086
E-mail: amma@pscw.uva.nl
COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS
WHO's Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
(EDM), Geneva
The Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy (EDM)
provides global guidance and works with countries to implement
national drug policies and programmes. The aim is to ensure that
essential drugs are accessible to all the population, and that drugs
are safe, effective and rationally used. EDM also conducts
training, research and development activities aimed at solving
problems in drug procurement, accessibility, safety and use that
countries face in a rapidly changing pharmaceutical environment.
The Department has an extensive publications programme
including series on research, health economics and drugs, and
interagency guidelines. EDM's Essential Drugs Monitor -
published in English, French, Spanish and Russian is an -
important source of information on new developments and
experience.
Center for Health Policy Studies (CHPS), Mahidol University
Established jointly by Mahidol University and the Ministry of Health
in 1982, the Center for Health Policy Studies is an independent
policy and evaluation research unit in the Faculty of Social
Sciences, currently collaborating with a wide range of national and
international partners. CHPS has undertaken 32 research projects
covering important health policy developments in Thailand. These
include the PHC volunteer scheme, voluntary health insurance,
traditional medicine, the self- care programme, reproductive health,
gender and AIDS. The center serves as secretariat for the National
Network of Health Behavior Research and for the Women�s Health
Advocacy Network. It frequently conducts workshops and
seminars on crucial health policy issues. CHPS has affiliated staff
in the Ministry of Public Health and other university departments.
Medical Anthropology Unit (MAU), University of Amsterdam
The Medical Anthropology Unit, part of the Faculty of Social and
Behavioural Sciences, has a long tradition in applied and critical
social science. It collaborates with many national and
international academic institutions and development organizations.
The MAU is known for its action and policy- oriented research on
the use and distribution of pharmaceuticals, gender and
reproductive health, injections and culture, which has resulted in a
steady stream of publications in Dutch and international journals.
Within the Netherlands, the MAU is the sole provider of a
comprehensive Master's course in medical anthropology, attended
by social science and medical students of the University of
Amsterdam and other universities. The unit also regularly
organizes conferences on current issues in international health.
TRAINERS
Ms Daphne Fresle is a public health communications specialist
with the WHO Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines
Policy. She coordinates the communications activities - including
technical publications, drug information and consumer education -
of the Policy, Access and Rational Use team, and is editor of the
Essential Drugs Monitor. Ms Fresle has worked on the
development of public education programmes related to the
appropriate use of pharmaceuticals in a geographically and
culturally diverse range of countries. She recently conducted an
analytical global survey of rational drug use activities in the
community.
Ms Ane Haaland is a communication trainer with a background in
social science, journalism and photography. She works with
intervention research on training aspects of rational drug use for
providers and community members, and has developed a number
of manuals on the subject. During 15 years based in the field in
Asia and Africa she has focussed on research and development of
visual methods to communicate with low literate audiences, and
on programme implementation and evaluation. She teaches on
participatory learning methods, interpersonal communication and
journalism.
Dr Anita Hardon is head of the Medical Anthropology Unit,
University of Amsterdam, a medical biologist and medical
anthropologist. Her doctoral research on the use and distribution
of medicines in the Philippines has been followed by many other
published studies on medicine use, applied health research, quality
of care, and fertility regulation. She is author of a WHO manual on
how to study drug use in communities and leader of an
international collaborative study in this field. Her activities include
a five-week course on anthropology of health and health care, and
work with consumer organizations on rational drug use and
women�s health.
Ms Catherine Hodgkin is head of the Health Department of the
Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands (KIT): a multidisciplinary
group of consultants and trainers working in the field of health and
development. For ten years she was International Coordinator of
Health Action International (Europe), an international network of
NGOs and public interest groups working to promote a more
rational use of drugs. She has extensive experience in the field of
drug policy and consumer advocacy and has contributed to a
variety of training activities for consumers, health professionals
and policy makers.
Dr John Hubley has been involved in training, consultancy and
research activities in more than 25 countries in Africa, Caribbean,
Asia, Europe and the Pacific. He has worked for a wide range of
agencies including WHO, UNICEF, the European Community and
DFID. His activities have included support to strengthening health
promotion institutions at national, regional and district level,
training in health education and communication, and the
development of learning materials, including manuals. He
currently divides his time between teaching international health
promotion at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK, consultancy
and writing.
Dr Luechai Sringernyuang is head of the Medical Social Science
Program, Center for Health Policy Studies, Mahidol University. His
research experience includes studies of community participation in
primary health care; the use of traditional and herbal medicine; the
role of community health workers in the distribution of drugs;
rational drug use promotion; and self-care practices. His most
recent published work is a major study on the use and distribution
of medicines in rural Thailand.
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