E-DRUG: ICIUM Rational Use conference opens
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dear E-druggers,
The Second International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines (ICIUM)
started today in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 500 professionals from 78 countries
have gathered here to see 275 presentations and >300 posters about rational
use of drugs aspects. The organisers had 800 applications, and had to
disappoint 300 people. This shows the increased global interest in rational
use of drugs: the 1st ICIUM (1997, in the same town) had 272 participants
from 46 countries.
For the programme, see www.icium.org
The conference organisers have promised to put the presentations on the
ICIUM website as soon as possible. Until then, you can at least see the 1997
presentations and conclusions.
Your E-drug moderator is one of the participants, and will try and inform
the network about developments here.
Below the WHO press release about the meeting.
Wilbert Bannenberg
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Wilbert Bannenberg, E-drug moderator
Email: wjb@planet.nl
Mobile +31-6-20873123
Tel +31-497-550713
Fax +31-497-550712
E-drug subscriptions/archives at http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug/
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Promoting rational use of medicines saves lives and money, WHO experts say
29 MARCH 2004 | GENEVA -- Almost half of all medicines globally are used
irrationally. This, say medicines experts at the World Health Organization
(WHO), can have severe consequences: adverse drug reactions, drug
resistance, protracted illness and even death. In addition, the financial
cost incurred by individuals and governments due to irrational use is
unnecessary and often extremely high, particularly in developing countries
where patients often pay for medicines out of pocket.
At a global meeting opening in Thailand on 30 March, WHO and partners
(comprising donor governments, foundations and non-governmental
organizations) will spend four days looking at ways to improve use of
medicines in developing countries.
"Most people see a lack of access to medicines as the main problem," says
Hans Hogerzeil, Director ad interim of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
at WHO. "Unfortunately, the irrational use of available medicines is also a
major threat to health and leads to considerable waste."
Irrational use of medicines includes: over-treatment of a mild illness;
inadequate treatment of a serious illness; misuse of anti-infective drugs;
over-use of injections; self-medication of prescription drugs; premature
interruption of treatment. Several country figures show that such practices
are frequent, and not exclusively in developing countries.
According to figures gathered by surveys presented to WHO, in 2000, about
60% of antibiotics in Nigeria were prescribed unnecessarily. In Nepal, over
50% of antibiotics prescribed in 1996 were not needed and 40% of medicines
expenditure in the same year was wasted due to inappropriate prescriptions.
Globally, the figure for unwarranted antibiotics prescriptions stands at
roughly 50%.
Overuse of most medicines contributes to drug resistance. For example,
overuse of chloroquine, the traditional remedy for malaria, has led to
resistance which has been recorded in over 80 countries. Resistance to
penicillin, used to treat gonorrhoea, is present in as many as 98% of
patients in certain regions.
Irrational use of drugs due to inappropriate prescription can also lead to
adverse drug events which cause illness or death. In the United Sates,
adverse drug events represent one of the six leading causes of death.
The bottom line to increasing rational use of medicines is the improvement
of health systems, which can only be achieved through multilateral
partnerships concretely promoting development. WHO and other agencies have
worked to promote rational use of medicines through advocacy and education
programmes for health providers, prescribers and consumers. Further steps to
be promoted in the future are: advice to policy makers on market and price
controls and limiting the medicines options for a country to those that are
strictly necessary for the public health priority concerns.
"Misuse of antibiotics, overuse of injections, and under-use of
life-extending drugs for illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, heart disease, and
other chronic illnesses together constitute a global epidemic of irrational
use of medicines," explains Jonathan Quick, incoming president and CEO of
Management Sciences for Health. "This epidemic results in untold needless
suffering and costs millions of lives each year."
Currently, about 20 000 medicines are sold on the global market. WHO's List
of Essential Medicines, which includes examples of medicines addressing all
the major diseases of public health importance, contains 316 products. The
wide range of very similar medicines that exist for the same condition can
lead to irrational use and all the negative consequences this brings with
it.
The International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines is the second of
its kind and will take place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 30 March to 2
April. The Conference is sponsored by WHO, the Thai Network for Rational Use
of Drugs (ThaiNRUD), Management Sciences for Health, the Centre for
International Health, Boston University School of Public Health; Harvard
Medical School and the International Network for the Rational Use of Drugs.
(source: WHO website http://www.who.int/mediacentre/notes/2004/np9/en/
RELATED LINKS
- International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines web site
http://www.icium.org/
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