E-DRUG: New World Medicines Situation Chapter Procurement of Medicines
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To all E-Druggers,
I am pleased to announce the publication of a new World Medicines Situation chapter on Procurement of Medicines. The chapter has been written by Todd Dickens from PATH in Seattle in Washington State in the USA.
To download the chapter go to http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js18769en/ .
The abstract reads:
- Public sector health-care procurement systems can play an important role in helping countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals;
- Public sector procurement of medicines in developing countries occurs mainly at two levels > -> the national level and the international level > -> with multilateral agencies playing an increasingly significant role. However a number of countries have chosen to decentralize their national procurement process as part of health sector reforms or in an effort to meet local needs through increased local involvement, accountability and flexibility;
- At the national level, developing countries are faced with increasing tasks and responsibilities for procurement of quality medicines, but often have limited financial resources, procurement capacity, and regulatory capacity for meeting these obligations;
- At the international level, efforts by bilateral donor and multilateral agencies to address these limitations and support access to medicines include: new funding, procurement and pricing mechanisms; supporting prequalification systems for selected medicines to address limited quality assurance capacity at the national level; and strengthening country procurement systems;
- There is increased global recognition of the continuing need to strengthen developing country health-care procurement systems through a comprehensive, system-wide approach to capacity building.
For more information on other chapters go to http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/policy/world_medicines_situation/en/index.html or the Table of
Contents at http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/policy/world_medicines_situation/wmsr_table/en/index.html
Thank you
Richard
Richard Laing (Coordinator)
Medicine Information and Evidence for Policy,
Department of Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies
World Health Organization
CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Tel 41 22 791 4533
Fax 41 22791 4167
E-mail laingr@who.int