The third ‘International Conference on Improving the Use of Medicines’ (ICIUM 2011) has expressed concern over the fact that over two billion people in the developing countries are unable to access essential drugs due to diverse reasons. The ICIUM, held in Antalya in Turkey recently, has examined ways and means to improve availability of essential drugs to the people ailing from chronic diseases in developing countries.

According to Dr Guru Prasad Mohanta, professor at the department of pharmacology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, who represented India in the Conference, said the conference discussed several key issues affecting the lives of the people, and said high medicine cost pushes 150 million people below the poverty line each year. In many low and middle income countries, the life-saving insulin treatment for diabetes in one month may cost half a month’s salary.

Delegates who attended from over 80 countries have found that over two billion people in these countries are unable to access essential drugs due to many reasons. The participants have also learned that a lot of people in the developing countries are facing serious life threats due to chronic diseases such as hypertension, asthma and diabetes rather than from infectious diseases like AIDS and TB. Very few governments are taking measures to address this crucial issue, they observed.

The meeting witnessed the presence of more than 600 drug experts from all over the world. Mohanta said life-saving drugs for malaria are not available in private pharmacies of East Africa and in Asian countries, 42 per cent of the prices of medicines is spent for bribing doctors. Only one relief is that, he said, generic medicines are available at cheaper rates in African countries.

The conference organizers have maintained that Sultanate of Oman has succeeded in drastically reducing the use of antibiotics, from 60 per cent of prescriptions in 1995 to 15 per cent in 2010. Specially trained drug sellers in Tanzania, called ADDOs (Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets), supply essential medicines of good quality to patients in rural areas.

The ICIUM conferences are held in every seven years. Earlier conferences were held in 1997 and in 2004, both in Thailand. This time it was decided to conduct it in Turkey to allow more delegates from the Middle East to participate, they said. The object of the conference is to discuss the misuse of drugs in low and middle income countries and suggest ways to improve the situation.

Dr Mohanta was invited to attend the meeting to present his research paper on ‘Consumer Education through Newspaper Column’. He said, “The key finding from my study is that consumer education needs to be given one of the several strategies used to promote rational use of medicines as they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the rational drug use movement. Consumer empowerment through education is essential.” He said that based on his work and the work of others at the ICIUM 2011, policy makers should consider promoting rational use of drugs at every point of medicine use.