Drugs are considered an indicator of the quality of health care globally as they play a vital role in saving lives. For a sustainable healthcare service, it is mandatory to use medicines with regard to rational principles. Rational use of essential medicines can prevent, treat, or alleviate most leading causes of death and disability in developing countries and globally. The World Health Organization (WHO), defined rational use of medicines (RUM) as “Patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community”.
The role of governments, drug authorities, society, manufacturers, the educational system, media, patients and other health care workers cannot be denied as Rational drug Use (RDU) plays a vital role in avoiding preventable adverse drug effects, maximising therapeutic outcomes with promoting patient adherence and minimising the cost of drug therapy.
The role of Faith based organisations is key in providing health care around the world ensuring that there is healing and wholeness of the human person thus supporting the church-based health services to better serve the poor, marginalised and unreached.
In recent years, the number, variety, and use of medicines have dramatically increased. This increase has brought some affirmative improvements (i.e. new medication opportunities) but has also caused some serious healthcare problems attributed to irrational drug use. Evidence has shown that multi-drug prescribing, overprescribing, misuse of drugs, overuse of antibiotics and injections, treatment failures, drug resistance, medication errors, use of unnecessary expensive drugs, drug wastage, environmental pollution, increased mortality and morbidity, increased adverse drug reactions and hospitalisation, and wasted economical resources are most common problems of irrational drug use[1].
According to Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation, the promotion of rational use of medicines through policies, structures, information and education includes:
Furthermore, the knowledge required by physicians, patients and other people involved in the drug utilisation process increases day by day, in parallel with the increase in the knowledge about treatments and medicines. This situation brings along the lack of knowledge and information pollution and also contributes to irrational drug use.
Communities also contribute to this problem through self-diagnosis and rampant over-the-counter dispensing of antibiotics.
EPN has put in place this webinar as an information sharing activity to exchange experiences and best practices among members, an essential approach to strengthening pharmaceutical services in church health facilities. The webinar will discuss some of the effects of irrational drug use from key players in the health sector as well as approaches being implemented to promote rational drug use while addressing how to curb some of the constant challenges on the ground.
The key aim of this webinar is
This webinar will respond to some of the following questions:
The webinar has been scheduled to take place on 27th April 2023 from:
EPN encourages you and your affiliated health facilities to join and participate.
Moderator: Dr. Judith Asin, Program Officer, Pharmaceutical Systems Strengthening (PSS), EPN
English-French Interpreter: Mike Upio, Public Health Expert and EPN Individual member
Speakers:
