FHI360-SATELLIFE Health Information and Technology

The APUA is a non-profit, international organization that conducts educational, research and international networking activities to promote appropriate use of antibiotics around the world. The site includes sections with fulltext documents on research and surveillance, and information for the health practitioner and patient/consumer, plus current news briefs. http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/

Boletin Farmacos (Focus on Low-Income Countries) (Spanish)

This is a Spanish-language site for pharmacists and subscribers in Latin America. The site promotes high-quality care and rational use of drugs. http://www.saludyfarmacos.org/boletin-farmacos/

British National Formulary

The BNF provides healthcare professionals with authoritative, unbiased and practical information on the selection and use of drugs. The text is clear, concise and accessible and the content is revised every 6 months. The BNF is published by the British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The main target audience is the UK prescriber, but the the BNF is acclaimed internationally and is used worldwide. http://www.bnf.org/bnf/

Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This site contains information about the campaign and related reports, publications, press releases and links. The campaign is sponsored by Medecins Sans Frontieres. http://www.msfaccess.org/

Drug Watch

This is a comprehensive Web site database featuring extensive information about thousands of different medications and drugs currently on the market or previously available worldwide. It is organized by broad categories – Drug Side Effects, Drug Interactions, Drugs by Types, Drubs by Lawsuits and New and Alerts plus an A-Z Drug Index. http://www.drugwatch.com/ http://www.drugwatch.com/

Essential drugs - Practical guidelines (Focus on Low-Income Countries) (French, Spanish)

Published in January 2010, this large PDF file has been developed by Médecins Sans Frontières. The information is intended for pharmacists, nurses and medical auxiliaries. The file is divided into broad subject sections - Oral drugs, Injectable drugs, Infusion solutions, Vaccines, Immunoglobulins and anti-sera and Drugs for external use, antiseptics and disinfectants. For each listed drug, there is the therapeutic action, indications, presentations, dosage, duration, contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions plus general remarks. http://www.refbooks.msf.org/MSF_Docs/En/Essential_drugs/ED_en.pdf

Essential Drugs Monitor(WHO)

Since its launch in 1985, the Essential Drugs Monitor has been an information source about essential medicines for health policy-makers, health personnel, donors, academics, NGOs and other health advocates in developing and transitional countries. From this link, you can access the full collection of Essential Drugs Monitor. http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/monitor/en/index.html

essentialdrugs.org (Focus on Low-Income Countries) (French, Russian, Spanish)

essentialdrugs.org is SATELLIFE's electronic discussion group on essential drugs. The site contains registration information for the email discussion list plus access to the E-DRUG archives. It is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian. There is also a separate list for health professionals in India, INDIA-DRUG. The discussions focus on the use of essential drugs in developing and transitional countries. http://www.essentialdrugs.org/index.php

Healthy Skepticism: Countering Misleading Drug Promotion

The goal of this international non-governmental agency is to improve health by reducing harm from inappropriate drug promotion. Using the Healthy Skepticism Library, individuals can search for ‘publications relevant to drug promotion’. Also accessible are the publications of the WHO Essential Drugs Monitor and a major topics subject section plus links to relevant sites. http://www.healthyskepticism.org/global/

How to Improve the Use of Medicines by Consumers (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This WHO and University of Amsterdam publication aims to facilitate the rational use of medicine. By analyzing the consumer’s perspective, the study discusses the inappropriate use of medicines including over and self-medication, misuse of antiobiotics and injections plus overuse of safe medicines and unsafe use of herbal medicines. The publication highlights communication methods and strategies for developing the proper environment. Published in 2007, it is a large pdf document that can be downloaded in part or full. http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/WHO_PSM_PAR_2007.2.pdf

International Drug Price Indicator Guide (Focus on Low-Income Countries) (French, Spanish)

The Guide contains a spectrum of prices from pharmaceutical suppliers, international development organizations, and government agencies. It aims to make price information more widely available in order to improve procurement of medicines of assured quality for the lowest possible price, The site can be searched by drug name or alphabetical list or by WHO EML therapeutic class and also contains a link to the PDF version of this guide. It is annually updated by Management Science for Health, UK with collaboration from DFID and Medicines Transparency Alliance. http://erc.msh.org/mainpage.cfm?file=1.0.htm&id=1&temptitle=Introduction&module=DMP&language=English

International Network for the Rational Use of Drugs (INRUD) (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This website contains information about INRUD and its activities. INRUD designs, tests, and disseminates effective strategies to improve the way drugs are prescribed, dispensed, and used, with a particular emphasis on resource poor countries. The INRUD network consists of 20 groups, 15 from Africa, Asia and Latin America. http://www.inrud.org/

International Network of Drug Information Centres (INDICES) (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

INDICES is a global network of drug information centres, which advocates rational drug therapy particularly in developing countries. INDICES runs an e-mail list which provides a forum for discussion of all matters relating to drug information, and helps with specific drug information enquiries. http://www.essentialdrugs.org/indices/about.php

International Pharmaceutical Federation

This organization is the global federation of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. Regarding low-income countries, FIP sets global pharmacy standards through professional and scientific guidelines, policy statements and declarations and collaborates with WHO and other international agencies. The site describes the organization’s numerous programs, projects and publications. http://www.fip.org/

Johns Hopkins University 'Antibiotic Guide

The 'Antibiotic Guide' contains an antibiotics database, searchable by diagnosis, antibiotic, or pathogen. There is also a news and features section. The site aims to be international, but the content is somewhat biased to US users. It is maintained by the Johns Hopkins Division of Infectious Diseases, U.S. http://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/ub/index/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/All_Topics/A

Merck Manuals: Online Medical Library

The 2006 edition of the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library provides useful clinical and prescribing information for healthcare professionals. While the text is geared toward U.S. based practitioners, the text is comprehensive, clear and concise. It includes detailed information on paediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics, gynaecology, dermatology, pharmacology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and a number of special subjects. The site includes a keyword search engine. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/index.html

PDR.net: The Online Home of PDR

PDR Online provides access to the online version of Physicians' Desk Reference, PDR for Herbal medicines and PDR Multi-Drug Interactions. The content is biased towards the US. Registration is required (free). http://www.pdr.net/

PharmWeb

PharmWeb is a series of links to pharmaceutical information on the Internet. The site indexes a wide range of organizations including pharmaceutical companies, government and regulatory bodies, societies, and publishers. The site includes a specialized search engine, PharmSearch. http://www.pharmweb.net/

Standard Treatment Guidelines and Essential Drugs Lists (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This compilation is based partly on WHO guidelines and is organized by health care level (primary, hospital level). The site is divided into chapters on specific disease systems and contains a keyword index for each level of care. The site is available as a pdf file and is maintained by the South African Drug Action Programme. http://www.hst.org.za/publications/standard-treatment-guidelines-and-essential-drugs-list-primary-health-care

Virtual Library: Pharmacy

This site is a gateway to drug-related databases, journals, companies, toxicology, conferences, and organizations. It includes a keyword search engine. http://www.pharmacy.org/

WHO Medicines Bookshelf 1.0

This collection is based on the CD-ROM version and consists of 95 information resources, mainly from the WHO's Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy Department (EDM). It covers essential drugs, rational use of drugs, national drug policy, quality and safety of medicines and traditional medicine. This site has keyword, title, subject and organization access. http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?a=p&p=about&c=whoedm

WHO: Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies (French)

WHO's goal is that people throughout the world have access to the essential medicines they need; that the medicines are safe, effective and of assured quality; and that they are prescribed and used rationally. This site contains information about WHO's programs, policies and procedures and is organized in the following broad categories: Medicine Information and Evidence for Policy, Medicine Access and Rational Use, Medicine Programme Coordination and Quality and Safety of Medicines. The subject pages contain links to full-text WHO documents on the specific topic(s). http://www.who.int/medicines/en/

WHO: Medicines, Publications and Documentation Search Tools

This site contains brief explanations and links to 11 ways to find information in the WHO Department of Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies, Health Systems and Services Cluster online resources plus over 950 medicines-related publications. These search options range from keyword to title, subject, publisher, and country and region choices. The site also contains useful tips on how to search. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/

WHO: Model List of Essential Medicines (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

The Model List Essential Medicines currently is in the 15th edition (2007) and is updated every two years. It is primarily intended for national, hospital and institutional 'essential medicines selection committees'. The site also includes links to 'latest news and events' relating to essential medicines. http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/en/index.html

World Medicines Situation Report 2011

The third edition of this report contains new data on 24 key topics relating to pharmaceutical production and consumption, innovation, regulation and safety. Topics include selection, procurement, supply management, rational use, financing and pricing. Cross-cutting chapters cover household medicines use, access and human rights, good governance, human resources and national medicines policies. Each topic can be downloaded as a PDF file. The Report is a periodic publication of the World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/policy/world_medicines_situation/en/index.html

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