The pharmaceutical sector of any nation is responsible for providing society with quality medicines and other pharmaceutical services. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Pharmaceuticals may constitute as much as 40% of the national he...alth budget in developing countries, yet portions of the population may lack access to the most essential medicines; while the limited funds available for health are spent on unnecessary, ineffective and even dangerous medications.
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The primary role of Benin’s Department of Pharmacy and Medicines (DPMED) is to develop and apply the national pharmaceutical policy. The main objective of this policy is to ensure the availability and accessibility of quality ...e-to-highlight medbox">medicines for the population. To fulfill its mandate, DPMED aims to strengthen its regulatory capacity, including the issuance of licenses to pharmaceutical establishments and the registration of pharmaceutical products. Benin’s current registration system shares core concerns that are common to most developing countries, notably the capacity to evaluate and monitor the security, efficacy, and quality of medicines and other health products. It is currently characterized by 1) poor or inadequate traceability of records or regulations (example: a product’s marketing authorization [MA] is often hard to find); 2) lack of evidence used in the regulatory decision-making process (reasons behind special import authorization, i.e., products without valid MAs); 3) inconsistent and unsecured archiving system; 4) limited human resources; and 5) an inefficient information management system
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Using the WHO model list of essential medicines to update a national essential medicines list
Since 1977, WHO has been working with countries to design the package of essential ...te-to-highlight medbox">medicines as an integral component of treatment within the continuum of care, developing and disseminating the Model List of Essential Medicines (Model List). WHO is committed to supporting Member States in sharing best practices in selecting
essential medicines, and in developing processes for the selection of medicines for national essential medicines lists (national EMLs, or NEMLs) consistent with the evidence-based methods used for updating the WHO Model List.
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6th edition, The NLEM 2021 contains 398 drugs molecules in different therapeutic categories.
Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is one of the greatest child survival challenges in the world today and
reportedly affects more than 16.2 million children each year1. High impact, proven treatment interventions exist
yet sadly approximately only 3.2 million children with SAM have access to treatme...nt each year2. Thus, there
is a need to scale up interventions to improve coverage and access across high burden countries. While efforts
are currently underway to expand services in many countries, obstacles remain.
One critical barrier to expanding SAM treatment services is the acceptance, accessibility and utilisation of
ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). In some countries and contexts, RUTF is still not fully accepted by
community members; while other countries face problems with procurement, storage and supply chain
management which impact on availability and use3. Reports from Ghana and Zambia highlighted that stock-
outs and logistical challenges are often noted as key contributors to high default rates in outpatient treatment
centres4.
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Including Therapeutic Food, Dietary Vitamin and Mineral Supplementation - 2nd edition
The purpose of these guidelines is to help health workers to participate in the process of continuous surveillance of safety and efficacy of the pharmaceutical products which are used in clinical practice, thus help to achieve the ultimate goal to make safer and more effective treatment available to... patients. This guideline addresses specifically the issues on what to report, why to report, when to report, where to report and how to report.
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These guidelines for the National Pharmacovigilance and Medicine Information System in Rwanda have been developed to ensure that safe, efficacious and quality medicines are made available to all Rwa...ndans.
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Cerebrum. 2016 Jul-Aug; 2016: cer-10-16.
Published online 2016 Jul 1.
The extensive use of antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine in recent years has accelerated the emergence and spread of resistant microorganisms. This situation has been worsened by the lack of investment in developing new effective antibio...tics. The severity of the consequences is clear to see: it is estimated that each year, drug-resistant infections result in at least 25 000 patient deaths and cost the EU EUR 1,5 billion in healthcare costs and through loss of productivity
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The procurement of essential medicines and other health products is a critical function in support of the effective discharge of WHO’s mandate, and WHO values the importance of the quality of essential m...edicines and health products that are supplied to countries. The first World Health Assembly in 1948 recognized the need to establish a procurement service at WHO, and recommended setting up an office “to give advice on the procurement of essential drugs, biological products and other medical supplies”.
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This publication was developed in response to the need for a reference list of priority medical devices required for management of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), focusing on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, especially for low- and middle-inco...me countries to support universal health coverage actions.
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This manual summarizes key issues related to the safety of NTD medicines and their administration, with a focus on essential medicines used in mass drug administration (MDA), also called preventive ...chemotherapy. It can be used as a standalone reference manual, but is intended to be used in conjunction with the accompanying training modules, which provide practical instruction, and the aide-mémoires. Versions of the aide-mémoires and training modules are available respectively for both (i) programme managers and district-level health officials and (ii) community drug distributors and community health workers
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