E-DRUG: Teaching pharmacy and medical students about promotion
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[Submitted 3 Nov; sorry for delayed posting; I hope the deadline is flexible? WB]
Dear e-druggers,
Are you involved in teaching medical or pharmacy students about drug
promotion? Do you have colleagues who are doing this teaching?
A joint project by the World Health Organization and Health Action
International is underway to collect information on initiatives to teach
medical and pharmacy students about drug promotion.
We would like to hear about teaching on any aspect of promotion, whether it
is critical appraisal of medicine ads, sponsorship of meetings, ethical
issues related to interactions with the pharmaceutical industry, the
regulation of drug promotion etc.
If you are involved in teaching students about promotion, please send your
name and e-mail address to <sonja@haiweb.org> in an e-mail with the subject
line 'Education on drug promotion' before NOVEMBER 7.
We will send a brief questionnaire back to you in early November. All
respondents to this survey will receive a free copy of a manual on education
on drug promotion produced at the end of the project.
Note: if you have already responded to a request through your medical or
pharmacy school, please ignore this message.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Best regards,
Richard Laing
Sri Suryawati
Margaret Ewen
Barbara Mintzes
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
E-DRUG: Teaching pharmacy and medical students about promotion (2)
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Hello!
This subject finds me in a great need of such training to our medical and pharmacy students in Tanzania.
Drug promotion is so far not part of materials delivered in classes, however, we have a number of drug promoters in the country most of them being Clinical officer (a cadre below Assistant Medical Officers) and a few pharmacists. Somebody interested in this field is trained by induction from experienced promoters. Majority of trained drug promoters are foreigners from nearby countries and Asia however, my office (TFDA) has denied foreigners to work as drug promoters as we believe this can be done by Tanzanians. But as I said the gap is there because our people do not get the training in drug promotions. TFDA has been training them on code of ethics for drug promoters as component in our main law.
So I'm of the feeling that we should also be taken on board with this initiative to give training to medical and pharmacy students especially in a country like Tanzania where we are witnessing raise in pharmaceutical investment and involvement of a many people in this sector.
TFDA provides permits to drug promoters (know here as Medical Representatives).
Emmanuel Alphonce
Head, Licensing and Registration of premises
Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA)
P.O Box 77150
Dar es salaam
Fax +255 22 2450793