Essential Drugs For Primary Health Care

An illustrated manual designed to help community health workers learn how to use simple drugs to treat common illnesses. Specific to health conditions in Southeast Asian countries, the book uses simple explanatory texts and illustrations to communicate instructions for treating illnesses and knowing when a patient must be referred to a doctor. First issued in 1988 and revised in 1992, the book has been further expanded and updated in line with new knowledge and considerable experience with use of the previous editions. The manual has two parts. The first provides instructions for the correct and appropriate use of 34 essential drugs, ranging from aspirin and paracetamol, through chloroquine and oral re-hydration salts, to penicillin tetracycline eye ointment and several vitamins. Each is described according to a common framework that explains how the drug helps, when it should be used, how it is supplied and given to patients, side effects that may occur, and special precautions to follow. Where appropriate, information on dosage and prescribing schedule by age and weight is set out in tabular form. Part two provides advice for the management or referral of 22 common medical problems moving from anemia, cough, diarrhea, and ear and eye problems through HIV/AIDS, leprosy, malaria and tuberculosis, to poisoning, snakebites, wounds, burns, and shock. Advice on pain relief and on the management of skin and tooth problems is also provided.

This report presents the recommendations of the WHO Expert Committee responsible for updating the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The first part contains a progress report on the new procedures for updating the Model List and the development of the WHO Essential Medicines Library. It continues with a section on changes made in revising the Model List followed by a review of some sections such as hypertensive medicines and fast track procedures for deleting items. Annexes include the 13th version of the Model List and items on the list sorted according to their 5-level Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification codes.

This manual attempts to provide simple, adequate and evidence-based information to health care professionals in primary health care especially in low- and middle-income countries to be able to provide pharmacological treatment to persons with mental disorders. The manual contains basic principles of prescribing followed by chapters on medicines used in psychotic disorders; depressive disorders; bipolar disorders; generalized anxiety and sleep disorders; obsessive compulsive disorders and panic attacks; and alcohol and opioid dependence. The annexes provide information on evidence retrieval, assessment and synthesis and the peer view process.

In recent years, high prices of pharmaceutical products have posed challenges in high- and low-income countries alike. In many instances, high prices of pharmaceutical products have led to significant financial hardship for individuals and negatively impacted on healthcare systems' ability to provide population-wide access to essential medicines. Pharmaceutical pricing policies need to be carefully planned, carried out, and regularly checked and revised according to changing conditions. Strong, well-thought-out policies can guide well-informed and balanced decisions to achieve affordable access to essential health products. This guideline replaces the 2015 WHO guideline on country pharmaceutical pricing policies, revised to reflect the growing body of literature since the last evidence review in 2010. This update also recognizes country experiences in managing the prices of pharmaceutical products.

This book offers policy makers a hands-on approach, tested in the World Bank’s field work in many countries, for developing policies that improve access to safe, effective medicines in health systems of low- and middle-income economies.

Synthesis of Essential Drugs describes methods of synthesis, activity and implementation of diversity of all drug types and classes. With over 2300 references, mainly patent, for the methods of synthesis for over 700 drugs, along with the most widespread synonyms for these drugs, this book fills the gap that exists in the literature of drug synthesis. It provides the kind of information that will be of interest to those who work, or plan to begin work, in the areas of biologically active compounds and the synthesis of medicinal drugs. This book presents the synthesis of various groups of drugs in an order similar to that traditionally presented in a pharmacology curriculum. This was done with a very specific goal in mind – to harmonize the chemical aspects with the pharmacology curriculum in a manner useful to chemists. Practically every chapter begins with an accepted brief definition and description of a particular group of drugs, proposes their classification, and briefly explains the present model of their action. This is followed by a detailed discussion of methods for their synthesis. Of the thousands of drugs existing on the pharmaceutical market, the book mainly covers generic drugs that are included in the WHO’s Essential List of Drugs. For practically all of the 700+ drugs described in the book, references (around 2350) to the methods of their synthesis are given along with the most widespread synonyms. Synthesis of Essential Drugs is an excellent handbook for chemists, biochemists, medicinal chemists, pharmacists, pharmacologists, scientists, professionals, students, university libraries, researchers, medical doctors and students, and professionals working in medicinal chemistry. * Provides a brief description of methods of synthesis, activity and implementation of all drug types * Includes synonyms * Includes over 2300 references

A drug policy is a crucial ingredient in every country's national health strategy as it provides a strategic framework to identify goals and commitments. This publication discusses the key components of such a policy. Issues covered include: the selection of essential drugs, affordability; finance and supply; regulation and quality assurance; rational use; research; human resources; monitoring and evaluation.