Objective
Essential drugs programmes generally aim at increasing the accessibility and enhancing the rational use of essential drugs. The impact of these Programmes in relation to these general aims has, however, rarely been evaluated systematically. This proposal outlines a collaborative project that aims at evaluating the impact of essential drugs programmes on the use 0E drugs bY consumers. Three institutions in Europe and four institutions in developing countries participate in the project. The general aim of the collaborative project is to enhance the rational use of drugs through the evaluation of existing interventions and through the development of more appropriate ones. Based on the outcome of the project suggestions will be made for inclusion of rational drug use interventions in the development and implementation of primary health care and essential drugs programmes. The project Will greatly increase the understanding of and promote reform in these health Programmes, and is thus in coherence With research area II.20f the STD3 programme. The pronosed research is interdisciplinary, combining relevant medical and socio-cultural expertise and quantitative and qualitative research methods.
The project intends to initiate studies in a variety of health care settings in Asia and Africa, following a comparative case-study approach. In each country at least tW0 different geographical settings will be chosen, Where rational drug use interventions are being implemented. In these setting a programme area Will be compared With a control area to assess the impact of the interventions. The proposed research methods have been used in earlier research projects. They Will be adapted to the different settings in an international training Workshop to be held at the beginning of the implementation phase of the research projects. Special attention is given in this proposal to the utilization of research results. TWO national Workshop (in each participating developing country) and one international Workshop are planned to enhance the utilization of the research findings.
The focus on drug use by consumers is an innovative aspect of this project. Most drug utilization studies focus on health Worker prescribing, not sufficiently acknowledging the extent to which people in developing countries rely on self-medication in the treatment of common health problems.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
1012 Amsterdam
Netherlands