Rational Management of Medicines |
A focus on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
1 - 12 November 2010, Pretoria South Africa
Medicines are an essential and cost-effective tool of health care and an important element of health systems. Yet today, for millions of people worldwide essential medicines remain unavailable and unaffordable. Diseases of poverty including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis tragically claim innumerable lives in low income countries. There is an urgent need to develop adequate strategies that ensure better access to medicines. It is about getting evidence-based and effective medicines to the people who need them, whether by reducing cost, promoting research and development, improving distribution, improving acceptability and use, or slowing antimicrobial resistance.
Rational medicine policy and management is critically important in view of constrained health budgets and to improve efficiency, equity and quality of health care in pluralistic health systems.
This two weeks course will be conducted in Pretoria, South Africa where a full range of public, private and NGO based health care facilities offer opportunities for first hand exposure. The course will be complemented with field visits to ensure successful interaction between theory and practice and to address the system approach to diseases of poverty. International and South African facilitators together with local health professionals will create a challenging educational atmosphere. The interaction between participants from North and South will promote and enrich knowledge exchange.
Course objectives are to enable health professionals to understand and apply the concepts and principles of essential medicines and rational medicine policy and management, to recognize the need for a national and international medicine policy environment and to gain practical field experience for rational medicine management.