EPN - Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network

The PSM Toolbox has been developed to serve as a central platform of HIV-related PSM tools for health procurement and supply staff in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, many aspects of the toolbox can help with the forecast quantification of other medicines.

Around 100 tools were compiled for a first Toolbox meeting in January 2007 organized by WHO/AMDS and hosted by IDA Solutions. At this meeting, tool developers, tool users and international PSM experts reviewed the available tools and created the content of the Toolbox included on this CD-ROM.

The Toolbox also exists in an online version, which can be found at http://www.psmtoolbox.org. The website is searchable and contains a forum for tool users to share their experiences and ask questions. Both versions of the Toolbox will be updated on a regular basis.

A summary report from the WHO global price reporting mechanism on antiretroviral medicines has been published (February 2008), which includes the transaction prices paid by low- and middle-income countries for antiretroviral medicines for adult treatment, from 2004 to 2007.

Download report http://www.who.int/entity/hiv/amds/GPRMFeb2008.pdf [.pdf 258Kb]

Visit the WHO/AMDS Global Price Reporting Mechanism (GPRM) web page (and report transaction prices online) at http://www.who.int/hiv/amds/gprm/en/index.html

In its continued efforts to promote rational use of medicines, EPN in conjunction with Health Action International (HAI) – Africa has developed a document which will be used to appeal to the delegates of the WHA to strengthen and support the rational use of medicines (RUM) resolution. The document highlights facts on RUM, the benefits of strengthening the RUM resolution and gives specific areas in need of input from the member states. The WHA is scheduled for 14th – 23rd May 2007 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Download EPN/HAI document [.pdf 74 Kb]

There are many types of drug donations. Some are a rapid response to an acute emergency or form a component of development aid. Others represent the philanthropic aims of large corporations. Yet others are small and targeted for use by individual health facilities. These WHO-published guidelines aim to improve the quality of these drug donations.

Guidelines for Drug Donations [.pdf 72 Kb]
 

These WHO-published interagency guidelines provide advice on the safe disposal of unusable pharmaceuticals in emergencies, and in countries where official assistance and advice may not be available. They describe safe disposal methods involving minimal risks to public health and the environment.

Guidelines for safe disposal of unwanted pharmaceuticals in and after emergencies [560 Kb]

These interagency guidelines, published by WHO, are designed to:

Guidelines for price discounts of single-source pharmaceuticals [226.3kb]

This booklet is published by WHO’s Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy. It aims to improve pharmaceutical procurement by the introduction of four strategic objectives and twelve operational principles for good pharmaceutical procurement.