E-drug: Essential Drugs Monitor No 32
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E-Druggers may be aware that I have moved from Boston to work in the
EDM/PAR team at WHO in Geneva. One of my duties will be to edit the
Essential Drugs Monitor with Kath Hurst. I was given a taste of this work by
being asked to be the Guest editor for the 25th Anniversary edition which has
now come out.
This edition No 32 has just been published and will be arriving in
your mailboxes shortly. For those of you who do not already receive a
printed copy and would like to do so please send an e-mail to
edmdoccentre@who.int saying that you would like to subscribe to the
Essential Drugs Monitor and receive copies in one language, free of charge.
You should give your Name, Agency, Profession, Mailing Address and Country.
Please specify which language from Chinese, English, French, Russian, or
Spanish you would like to receive. If you already receive a copy please be
patient and do not subscribe again. The next edition will arrive soon.
We have posted the Monitor on the web in a slightly different way.
In addition to having the entire Monitor posted as a big pdf file we have
posted the individual articles in pdf files. These are much smaller and
easier to download. The URL for the source page is
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/mon32.shtml I have copied this page at the
bottom of this message.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to highlight individual articles and
point out the key issues raised by the article and hopefully have the
authors comment on the issues raised.
Richard Laing (Medical Officer)
Policy, Access and Rational Use,
Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy,
World Health Organization
CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Tel 41 22 791 4533
Fax 41 22791 4167
E-mail laingr@who.int
Essential Drugs Monitor No.32
25 years of essential medicines progress
Full text in PDF: http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/mon32.shtml
(632KB)
Editorial
An introduction to this special issue of the Monitor which
looks back at 25 years of the essential medicines concept, as well as
featuring some of the crucial work being done today to increase access to
essential drugs (105K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_e.pdf
Improving drug regulation
A report on the WHO publication, "Effective drug regulation:
a multicountry study", which analyses a systematic assessment of regulation
in 10 countries. The article focuses on the generic conclusions and
important lessons from which all countries can learn. (63K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_1.pdf
Drug pricing survey in KwaZulu-Natal Aarti Kishuna
WHO and Health Action International have developed an
important standardised methodology for collecting and analysing medicine
prices and price composition within a country at a point in time, and over
time, and between countries. Aarti Kishuna's article reports on South
African field tests using the new methodology, and includes recommendations
for resolving some of the issues highlighted by the survey. Preliminary
findings from field tests in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka are also
given.(92K) http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_2.pdf
Reducing costs through regional pooled procurement Frances Burnett
This article considers the success of the Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States in implementing pooled pharmaceutical procurement
as a cost containment strategy, and outlines essential elements for
successful pooled procurement for other resource-constrained and small
countries.(92K) http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_3.pdf
Dispensing prescribers - a threat to appropriate medicines use?
Birna Trap, Ebba Holme Hansen
The authors describe a comparative survey of prescribing by a group
of dispensing and a group of non-dispensing doctors in Harare,
Zimbabwe. The study identified major differences between the two
groups, with dispensing doctors prescribing significantly more
medicines, including antibiotics and injections, per patient than the
non-dispensing doctors.
(44K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_4.pdf
Drug and therapeutics committees: vehicles for improving rational
drug use Terry Green, Alex Beith, John Chalker
An article which highlights the value of hospital drug and
therapeutics committees in controlling and managing drug use,
improving patient outcomes and containing antimicrobial resistance.
The authors give details of the WHO/MSH international training course
and manual (publication due in autumn 2003) on drug and therapeutics
committees. (260K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_5.pdf
Access to Essential Medicines: a global necessity
WHO Director-General, Gro Harlem Brundtland's speech at a seminar
marking the 25th anniversary of the WHO Model List of Essential
Medicines and the essential medicines concept. In it she reaffirms
the Organization's commitment to the concept, and looks at WHO's
future work in the medicines area, providing global normative
guidance and technical support to countries.(147K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_6.pdf
Memories of the First Expert Committee Meeting and celebrating 25
years later Margaretha Helling-Borda
Margaretha Helling-Borda, former Director of EDM, looks back
to the time of the First Expert Committee on Essential Drugs in October
1977, and relates how the first WHO Model List was drawn up. Still working
tirelessly to improve access to essential medicines, Mrs Helling-Borda tells
of spending the 25th anniversary of the List in Cambodia, helping to
evaluate national drug policy implementation.(316K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_7.pdf
Personal reflections on 25 years of the WHO Model List of Essential
Medicines Richard Laing
Richard Laing reflects on the difference the essential medicines
concept has made to his life. The article moves from 1979 in Zimbabwe
when as a hospital doctor he first saw the WHO Model List, to his
recent experiences as a member of the Expert Committee which has
overseen the change to an evidence -based List.
(50K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_8.pdf
Drug utilization in Latin America - the example of DURG-LA. Hector
Buschiazzo, Albin Chaves, Albert Figueras, Joan-Ramon Laporte
This article provides an overview of the work of Latin America's Drug
Utilization Research Group, which uses the knowledge it acquires
through research to give technical advice to drug regulatory
authorities, to guide pharmacology teaching and to collaborate on
health professionals' training in pharmacoepidemiology and
therapeutics. The article describes how members are tackling the
challenges of the information and telematics revolution, including
the creation of the SIETES database of bibliographic references, over
30% of which have an abstract or comment in
Spanish. (500K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_9.pdf
Global TB Drug Facility: improving access to TB drugs. Ian Smith,
Jacob Kumaresan, Virginia Arnold
The Global TB Drug Facility was launched in 2001 and aims to
provide treatment for 10 million patients by 2005. The authors believe that
many of the lessons learned through the Fund could be extended to help
increase access to medicines for other diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS and
malaria, and the article examines these lessons in more detail. (294K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_10.pdf
Demystifying antiretroviral therapy in resource-poor settings Toby
Kasper, David Coetzee, Francoise Louis, Andrew Boulle, Katherine Hilderbrand
Is ARV treatment possible in severely resource-constrained
environments? This article shows that it can be achieved, by highlighting
the experience in Khayelitsha, a poor township near Cape Town, South Africa,
where M�decins Sans Fronti�res has been supporting a programme since 1999.
This is one of the first articles providing data to document successful
treatment. The article discusses the keys to success: affordable drugs;
involvement of the community; and involvement of the patients. It concludes
that the time has come to scale up from pilot projects to widespread access
to ARV treatment.(63K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_11.pdf
CBIA: improving the quality of self-medication through mothers'
active learning Sri Suryawati
News of an innovative public education intervention in Indonesia,
where small group discussions are being used to improve mothers'
knowledge and skills to select over-the-counter medicines. Evaluation
has shown the success of this expanding project.(50K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_12.pdf
Indian hospital drug use study shows need to improve prescribing
G.B.Simpson, D. Govinda Das
Very few studies of in-patient drug use have been reported from
developing countries, but in April 2000 Osmania General Hospital in
Hyderabad, India, began a 4-year study to analyse drug use trends
among its patients. The authors report on the results to date, and an
intervention programme that is already underway to change prescribing
behaviour.
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_13.pdf
WHO's new Model Formulary - promoting consumer rights and patient
safety
This article gives details of the WHO Model Formulary - the first
global publication to give comprehensive information on all 325
medicines contained in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. It
analyses the need for such a formulary in developed and developing
countries, stressing that it is intended as a model for national
adaptation, in order to improve patient safety and limit superfluous
medical spending.(92K)
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_14.pdf
Announcing ICIUM 2004 http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/32_i.pdf
Access the current issue of the Essential Drugs Monitor No.32 at
http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/mon32.shtml
Access archives of past EDM issues at
http://www.who.int/medicines/information/infmonitor.shtml
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