Medicines are used in many different environments by many different stakeholders, so many different types of policy and intervention are needed to promote more appropriate (correct, rational) use. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been recommending the implementation by countries of essential medicines policies to improve the appropriateness of use for many years. This section contains reports on:

  • what medicines policies are being implemented by countries to promote more appropriate use of medicines
  • reports (mainly review articles) on the effectiveness of various policies and interventions on promoting more appropriate use
  • WHO policy documents on how to promote more appropriate use of medicines and antibiotics

Policy implementation to improve medicines use in low to middle-income countries

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Using indicators to measure country pharmaceutical situations: Fact Book on WHO Level I and Level II monitoring indicators. WHO/TCM/2006.2, Geneva, World Health Organisation, 2006. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js14101e/

Country pharmaceutical situations: Fact Book on WHO Level 1 indicators 2007. WHO/EMP/MPC/2010.1. Geneva World Health Organisation, 2010. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js16874e/

Country reports on medicines in management in South-East Asia, 2010-2015. http://www.searo.who.int/entity/medicines/country_situational_analysis/en/

http://www.searo.who.int/entity/health_situation_trends/country_policies_profil_and_information.pdf?ua=1[/expand]

 

The impact of interventions and policies on medicines use

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Holloway KA, Henry D, (2014) “WHO Essential Medicines Policies and Use in Developing and Transitional Countries: an analysis of reported policy implementation and medicines use surveys” PLOS Medicine, 11(9): e1001724.

Holloway KA, Rosella L, Henry D. (2016) The Impact of WHO Essential Medicines Policies on Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics. PLoS ONE; 11(3): e0152020. doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0152020.

Holloway KA, Kotwani A, Batmanabane G, Puri M, Tisocki K. (2017) Antibiotic use in South-East Asia and policies to promote appropriate use: reports from country situational analyses. BMJ; 358: j2291: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j2291

Holloway KA, Kotwani A, Batmanabane G, Santoso B, Ratanawijitrasin S, Henry D (2018). “Promoting quality use of medicines in South-East Asia: reports from country situational analyses”. BMC Health Services Research; 18:526. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3333-1

Holloway KA, Ivanovska V, Wagner AK, Vialle-Valentin C, Ross-Degnan D (2013). Have we improved use of medicines in developing and transitional countries and do we know how to? Two decades of evidence. Tropical Medicine & International Health; 18(6): 656-664.

Holloway KA, Ivanovska V, Wagner AK, Vialle-Valentin C, Ross-Degnan D (2015). Prescribing for acute childhood infections in developing and transitional countries, 1990-2009. Paediatrics & International Child Health; 35(1): 5-13. doi: 1179/2046905514Y.0000000115.

Medicines use in primary care in developing and transitional countries; fact book summarising the results from studies reported between 1990 and 2006. WHO/EMP/MAR/2009.3. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js16073e/

World Health Organisation (2004). Drug Promotion – what we know, what we have yet to learn – reviews of materials in the WHO/HAI Database on Drug Promotion. EDM Research Series No.32, WHO/EDM/PAR/2004.3, Geneva, World Health Organisation

Holloway KA, Ivanovska V, Manikandan S, Jayanthi M, Mohan A, Forte G, Henry D (2020). “Identifying the most effective essential medicines policies for quality use of medicines: a replicability study using three World Health Organisation data-sets”. PLoS ONE 15(2): e0228201, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228201.  [/expand]

 

Reviews of interventions to improve the use of medicines in low to middle-income countries

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Holloway KA, van Dijk L, (2011), World Health Organization. The World Medicines Situation 2011 (Third Edition), Rational Use of Medicines. WHO/EMP/MIE/2011.2.2. WHO, Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/policy/world_medicines_situation/en/index.html

Holloway KA, (2011) “Combating inappropriate use of medicines”, Expert Review Clinical Pharmacology, 4(3), pp. 335-348.

Pauline Norris: Interventions to improve antimicrobial use: evidence from ICIUM 2004  http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/improve_antimicrobia_%20use_evidence_ICIUM2004.pdf[/expand]

 

World Health Organization documents on how to improve medicines use and contain antimicrobial resistance

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Containing antimicrobial resistance; policy perspectives on medicines no. 10, 2005. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js7920e/

Promoting rational use of medicines: core components; policy perspectives on medicines no. 5, 2002. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh3011e/[/expand]