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Netlink - December 2007This is the members’ email newsletter for the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN). Netlink aims to help members keep in touch with what is going on in the Network. If you have any information to contribute or comments on the content, or if you would like to unsubscribe, subscribe or recommend someone to receive it, please contact info@epnetwork.org.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
This edition includes: Pharmacists in India participate in an EPN meeting Pharmacists in India participate in an EPN meeting The three EPN members in India – Inter-church Service Association (ICSA), Christian Medical Association of India (CMAI) and Christian Medical College (CMC) – Vellore joined efforts to host the first EPN members meeting in India. The participants of the meeting, which was held from 14th – 16th October 2006, included pharmacists working in church hospitals in India and EPN board members. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the prospective members to the Network and form an active members group in India. Though initially a challenge, the attendees were excited at the participatory approach of conducting the meeting and were appreciative of what they learned and achieved.
Since 2003, EPN member Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS), in conjunction with Johnson & Johnson (J&J), has provided Miconazole MAT buccal tablet, a drug used to treat oral thrush in those with HIV and AIDS in limited resource settings. The J&J group of companies has matched ‘dollar for dollar’ the revenue from the sales of the drug and awarded the money to HIV and AIDS projects in Kenya. Through a competitive process overseen by MEDS, the projects are judged and graded on innovativeness, best practices, sustainability and community involvement. The grades are used to determine the size of the awards which are presented at an awards ceremony held annually in December around the World AIDS Day. In 2007 the awards ceremony was held on 7th December in Nairobi, Kenya where USD 27,500 was donated to various projects. At the same event MEDS in partnership with the United States International Development Agency (USAID) launched a quarterly newsletter: Partners in Action fighting HIV/AIDS; and an environment-friendly medicine carrier bag. MEDS is a good example of forging partnerships with donors, governments and faith-based organizations to work for the good of the community.
The EPN HIV and AIDS Programme officer attended a meeting on medicine adherence and retention of patients on Antiretroviral Medicines from 29th – 31st October 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. The meeting which was organized by the International Network for the Rational Use of Drugs Initiative on Adherence to Antiretrovirals (INRUD-IAA), sought to answer: how do we measure rates, assess quality of care, and improve system performance? The meeting was held following a survey conducted in 2006 in five East African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to ascertain the current practices in measuring and calculating adherence and defaulting behaviours by patients receiving antiretroviral drugs. The results showed that definitions of adherence and defaulters varied considerably. In this regard, validated adherence indicators were identified and plans to roll them out in the five countries were discussed by country working groups. During the meeting it was reiterated that it is important to not only have a high number of people started on ARVs at a particular site but to also monitor their adherence levels. The importance of involving the whole community in antiretroviral therapy was also pointed out as one of the key ways to ensure that retention and adherence rates are kept high. The importance of high quality care was also pointed out. Quality care is not to be substituted with high adherence levels but the two need to be checked in equal measure. To ensure that ART is successful, more studies on adherence indicators need to be conducted in resource-poor settings.
The EPN coordinator has been invited and accepted to be one of the Council of Founder Members (COFM) of the Consortium for National Health Research (CNHR). The COFM is the top organ of the CNHR, an organization supported by donors such as the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Department for International Development (DFID), which will support health research development in Kenya. The consortium will bring together key research organizations including the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), universities, as well as the NGO sector. The EPN coordinator will be the NGO representative on the Council. The first meeting for the COFM was held from 29th November – 1st December 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya. This was as an opportunity for the members to get to know each other as well as to develop the consortium’s values and ethics. Though the EPN secretariat incorporates the Network’s values in all its key documents, it has become clear that these need to be articulated in one document. The secretariat has therefore taken up the challenge to develop, in collaboration with the board, a document on the Network’s values and ethics. This will be shared at the EPN Forum in May 2008.
We would like to inform our members, partners, friends and all our contacts that effective 1st January 2008, the EPN secretariat will no longer receive emails from the address epn@wananchi.com. The email in use will be info@epnetwork.org . Should you need to communicate directly with the secretariat staff, their email addresses are: Eva Ombaka, Coordinator – eombaka@epnetwork.org
EPN, with the continued support of its members, partners and friends, has accomplished much in 2007. We do not take your support for granted; without it our efforts would be in vain. As that time of the year approaches when we begin to slow down as we anticipate the coming holiday season, we at the secretariat, on behalf of our members, wish you good health, peace and joy. Merry Christmas and see you in January 2008! End
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