E-drug: Review of experiences with drug donation guidelines (2)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dear E-druggers,
Partly in response to the message from Dr Nightengale on the FDA's policy
on drug donations, we would like to present an update on where we are with
the evaluation of the interagency Guidelines for Drug Donations.
Formal position
The guidelines are a final (not draft) document, issued in 1996 by WHO/DAP
on behalf of an interagency group consisting of WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR,
International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Medecins snas Frontieres, the World
Council of Churches and OXFAM. In a resolution of the World Health Assembly
in May 1996 WHO was requested to review the experiences with the guidelines
after one year. At the WHA of May 1998 WHO/DAP will report on progress in
all components of this resolution, including the review of experiences with
the donation guidelines.
Review of experiences
In August 1997 (one year after the wide dissemination of the guidelines in
English, French and Spanish) WHO/DAP has started the review process by
developing detailed questionnaires for donors, consolidator PVO's and
recipients. Following the request from various interested parties, this
draft is now being sent out for review by various organizations and
experts, prior to being sent out by the end of November to as large as
possible a group of interested organizations and experts.
In this review of experiences we are specifically focusing on practical
experiences in the field, and are inviting comments on the size and type of
drug donations, the impact of the guidelines, the type and content of local
or national adaptations, and the nature of any changes or additions made by
other organizations. There are also specific questions to identify any drug
donation which was hampered, delayed, refused, cancelled or otherwise
affected by the guidelines. The closing date for replies will be end
February 1998; a date which will allow sufficient time for recipients and
field staff to collect and report their experiences. The replies will then
be sorted, analyzed and summarized in a report which will be issued as a
WHO/DAP document.
The WHO/DAP report will then be submitted to the interagency group, who
will decide whether any changes are needed in the current text of the
guidelines.
It is hoped that this process can be finalized before the summer of 1998.
We hope that this information is useful. Any further queries about the
guidelines or the review process can be directed to Dr Robin Gray or Dr
Hans Hogerzeil at the WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs, 1211 Geneva,
Switzerland. Fax 41-22-7914167, e-mail <grayr@who.ch>.
Dr Hans Hogerzeil
Medical Officer
WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs
Email: hogerzeilh@who.ch
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.