[e-drug] WHO: How to improve the use of medicines by consumers

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E-DRUG: WHO: How to improve the use of medicines by consumers
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[Crossposted with thanks from Druginfo; WB. An excellent publication with great examples and illustrations. BS]

Hi all

A revised version of the WHO guide "How to improve the use of medicines by
consumers" has been posted on the WHO Medicines site - this is a large
document [the full PDF is 5.74Mb] but contains much needed material - see
http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/publications/WHO_PSM_PAR_2007.2.pdf

The new version, written by Andrew Chetley, Anita Hardon, Catherine Hodgkin,
Ane Haaland and Daphne Fresle, covers the following aspects:

Section 1. Introduction
Chapter 1. How communication works

Section 2. Communication methods
  Chapter 2. Face-to-face communication
  Chapter 3. Drama and other folk media
  Chapter 4. Developing effective print materials
  Chapter 5. Mass media

Section 3. Strategies for developing an enabling environment
  Chapter 6. Working with journalists
  Chapter 7. Advocacy and networking
  Chapter 8. Managerial and regulatory strategies

Section 4. Bringing it all together
  Chapter 9. Planning the process
Chapter 10. Pretesting
  Chapter 11. Monitoring and evaluation
  Chapter 12. Conclusions

Annexes
Annex 1. Bibliography
Annex 2. Useful links
Annex 3. Boxes, tables and figures

Here's the basic challenge:

"Influencing human behaviour is a complex undertaking that requires careful
groundwork and carries responsibility for doing the right thing to improve
public health. To develop an intervention capable of delivering measurable
changes requires working with communities to find the answers to eight basic
questions:

1. What is current medicine use?
2. What are the problems related to current medicines use and what are the
critical factors underlying these problems?
3. What practices put people most at risk and are a priority for an
intervention?
4. What solutions are possible that will build on existing perceptions and
understandings to motivate changes in individual and social behaviour?
5. Who needs to be addressed?
6. What channels of communication and what materials/approaches are likely
to be most effective?
7. What other measures might be needed?
8. How will the intervention be monitored and evaluated?

Having found appropriate answers, the work then starts, with the people most
affected, to put into practice an intervention that will encourage rational
use of medicines in the community to help everyone attain the best possible
level of health."

regards

Andy

Andy Gray MSc(Pharm) FPS
* Senior Lecturer
Dept of Therapeutics and Medicines Management
* Consultant Pharmacist
Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research
in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine
University of KwaZulu-Natal
PBag 7 Congella 4013
South Africa
Tel: +27-31-2604334/4298 Fax: +27-31-2604338
email: graya1@ukzn.ac.za or andy@gray.za.net