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GPHF General Meeting 2001 Successful Project Work on Behalf of the German Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies / Jörn-Peter Hinrichs (Bayer) and Michael Ostermann (Sanavita) Newly Elected to the Board The GPHF General Meeting honoured the organisation’s successful project work realised in 2000 and unanimously discharged the Board of Directors. In the Board's report, Dr Gabriele Küsters, the GPHF Chairwoman, made a consistently positive statement. She highlighted the new drug-supply project launched by the GPHF – the co-ordination of drugs donated by the GPHF members in urgent humanitarian emergency situations – which had met with a particularly positive response in the public. Dr Küsters was confident that the GPHF is thus capable of offering services which not only make things easier for relief organisations and pharmaceutical companies but which also make a valuable contribution to the supply of urgently required high-quality drugs. Further success was reported by Dr. Küsters with regard to the progress of the GPHF-Minilab® project. In the meantime, nearly 50 of these mobile compact laboratories are being used world-wide to protect people from counterfeit and substandard drugs. The inquiries received almost every day from all over the world are evidence of the fact that the Minilab can make a valuable contribution to safeguarding people against this sometimes lethal danger. The GPHF chairwoman also expressed her confidence concerning two new pilot projects which the GPHF has recently started to support. Both the fight against the rampant pulmonary tuberculosis in Russia and the prevention of further spread of the AIDS/HIV virus in the southern regions of Africa are considered prime challenges for any development-aid organisation focusing its efforts on supporting pilot projects for improving basic health care in developing countries. In this connection, Dr Küsters thanked all the companies and the Federation of research-based pharmaceutical companies in Germany that have assisted the GPHF in the past year by their donations. Without their much appreciated help and their continuous commitment, the GPHF would not be in a position to successfully realise its projects. In the course of the General Meeting, Michael Ostermann (Sanavita Gesundheitsmittel GmbH & Co. KG) and Jörn-Peter Hinrichs (Bayer AG) were elected as new GPHF board members. The treasurer’s office was entrusted to Bernd Maehliss who has been a board member of the GPHF since 1999. Dr Diesner and Dr Schulze have retired from the board. Special thanks were expressed to Dr Hilmar Kienzl who also retired from the board. During the past three years Dr Kienzl has served the GPHF both as its Chairman and as an Executive Board Member. Dr Küsters praised his multi-facetted commitment to GPHF issues, emphasising that Dr Kienzl had imparted valuable stimuli to the organisation’s project work. In his capacity as the board member responsible, he had made a decisive contribution to the successful completion last year of the GPHF pilot project in Laos covering the diagnosis and treatment of parasitic infections, with this project now being handled by the local health authorities.
Co-ordination of Drug Donations Meets with Positive Response High Interest in the GPHF Drug Supply The new "drug-donations" project launched by the GPHF has met with a very positive response in the public. In numerous press publications, this initiative covering the co-ordination of drug donations between relief organisations and the potential donors of large drug quantities in acute humanitarian emergencies was praised as useful and exemplary. Many relief organisations and pharmaceutical companies, too, unanimously approved this GPHF project. The GPHF hopes that, in addition to the initial signatories, i.e. Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross), Deutsches Institut für Ärztliche Mission (German Institute for Medical Mission) and Deutsches Medikamenten-Hilfswerk action medeor (a German Drug-Donation Organisation), additional relief organisations will sign the Joint Declaration of Good Drug-Donation Practice in Germany. In recent weeks alone, the GPHF drug-supply project was in a position to provide the flood victims in Mozambique and the people hit by the Balkan wars with donated drugs totalling nearly 200,000 DEM in value.
50th GPHF-Minilab soon Operational on the "Roof of the World" Mobile Compact Laboratory on its Way to Nepal / Tests for Ten New Agents Currently, the 50th GPHF-Minilab® is being delivered to Nepal in order to check drug quality on the "roof of the world". During the weeks to come, GPHF project manager Dr Jähnke will travel to Nepal to train the local health workers in the handling of this mobile compact laboratory. The Minilab will be primarily deployed in the southern parts of the country, i.e. along the border to India. Thanks to this highly efficient and mobile test tool, the staff of the regional health services will soon make a valuable contribution to ensuring drug quality in this country, too. Considerable progress has also been made on work to include ten additional agents (with the focus being on anti-infectious agents) in the test methods of the Minilab. For the substances cephalexin, griseofulvin, quinine, mefloquine, artesunat, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, salbutamol, glibenclamide and ciprofloxacine, the GPHF anticipates the completion of the work before the end of this year. In this connection, the artesunat agent will for the first time be the subject of a monograph. With the inclusion of these new agents, the GPHP is confident that the Minilab will be used on an even broader basis.
GPHF Supporting Three New Projects in 2001 Pilot Projects in the Republic of South Africa, Russia and Myanmar As already briefly outlined in the last issue of the GPHF News, the GPHF started support of two new pilot projects in the Republic of South Africa and in Russia two months ago. In the meantime, the organisation has also agreed to a motion filed by the World Health Organisation concerning the joint support of a project to be realised in Myanmar. Pioneering Methods for AIDS Prevention The GPHF project initiated by the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW, World Population Foundation of Germany) and realised in the Republic of South Africa is based on a promising new approach. The Talking Hands Educational Trust (THET) is using a puppet theatre in sensitising youngsters to the dangers of HIV/AIDS so as to prevent the further spread of this infectious disease. The project is implemented by the young people themselves, because their word is more readily accepted by persons of their own age. The objective of this project is to enable young people to protect themselves and to positively influence their future perspectives. Dismal Basic Conditions The Republic of South Africa is one of the largest and most populous African countries. Many years of Apartheid have left their marks on the black part of the population (approximately 75%). The population is continually growing, creating hard-to-solve social and economical problems for the government. More than a third of the population is under 15 years of age. One in three of the – predominantly black – teenage girls has already given birth before reaching the age of twenty, thereby denying herself access to educational and occupational perspectives which anyway are far from good. An additional burden for the country is the HIV/AIDS pandemic that is spreading faster here than anywhere else. The worst hit by the spread of this pandemic and the gloomy economic conditions are young blacks with scarcely any opportunities for the future. By setting up a total of seven youth groups in Albany District, Eastern Cape, by training a total of 250 youngsters, and by realising comprehensive educational campaigns in schools and local communities, roughly 11,000 young people are to be sensitised on individual issues of reproductive health. Parents and teachers, too, are involved in these educational activities because the social context is of utmost importance for the success of any educational scheme. In this respect, the youth groups and the educational campaigns use both traditional media such as theatre and role-play, and modern print and electronic media such as newspapers and radio. Knowledge Alone is not Enough! Knowledge constitutes an important but insufficient basis for changing young people’s behaviour patterns. For this reason, it will be of decisive importance for the THET to also integrate the socio-economical living conditions of the young people. In connection with this project, basic sexual education will be combined with sensitisation campaigns on various issues such as violence, puberty and the social and psychological aspects of personality development. Saratow – a Promising Model? In recent years, pulmonary tuberculosis has been spreading epidemically in Russia, threatening in particular underprivileged parts of the population. Obsolete therapeutic concepts have resulted in a quick increase in morbidity and mortality rates of the population. Prisons are particularly often seats of infection, many of which are almost impossible to bring under control. The number and frequency of bacterial strains resistant to any agents whatsoever are drastically on the rise, thus handicapping any therapy. The chances of infections spreading at breakneck speed are all the more likely. This dismal scenario prompted the GPHF to support, at the request of the Federal Ministry of Health, a pilot project to monitor and control pulmonary tuberculosis in the Saratow Region on the Volga river – to the northeast of Volgograd. For the purpose of this project, the GPHF has teamed up not only with the Federal Ministry of Health but also with the Foreign Office, the World Health Organisation, Johanniter International (JOIN) and the local health authorities. The Saratow Region covers approximately 100 square kilometres with nearly 2.8 million inhabitants. By the end of last year, more than 11,000 acute cases of tuberculosis were on register – with one in three being infectious. Pilot Project for 500 Patients This project, initially scheduled for a period of twelve months and the treatment of a maximum of 500 patients, is split into three stages. For a start, focus will be on training the health workers in accordance with the currently applicable guidelines of the World Health Organisation (DOTS). This stage will be followed by the selection of the medical services and patients involved in the project. To be able to qualify, all medical services must be equipped with standard laboratory facilities for microscopic sputum analysis. In the third and last stage, the therapeutic measures for the individual patient groups will be defined and implemented. In connection with the project funding, all drugs and the corresponding medical consumables required for the therapy will be provided. The GPHF will fund the standard equipping of a laboratory focussing on sputum analysis complete with the required protective and hygienic measures in the project area. Based on the first data and experience gathered, the project partners are confident of being able to create a successful model in Saratow which, at a later stage, can be replicated in other Russian regions. Myanmar: Project for Schoolchildren Building on the successful projects realised by the GPHF in co-operation with the World Health Organisation on Pemba Island, the Seychelles and in Laos, both partners will implement in 2001 and 2002 a project in Myanmar focusing on a therapy of parasitic worm infections (Ascaris lumbricoides). The target group in this Southeast Asian country is made up of 100,000 children who can be directly reached via 350 schools. Apart from medicinal treatment of these infections which cause massive damage to internal organs, the focus will be both on the training of teachers and voluntary medical workers and on the children’s health education. Myanmar, the former Burma, obtained independence in 1948. Today, the country has 4.5 million inhabitants whose main source of income is agriculture. Low growth rates, high inflation and governmental dirigisme all hamper the economic development of this former British colony. Even today, the per capita GDP is less than 300 US dollars. Despite the international criticism of the continuous violations of human rights committed by the military regime, the GPHF and the WHO have decided to realise this project, since they do not want children to become hostages of wrong policies.
Input GmbH New GPHF Member In December 2000, INPUT GmbH joined the GPHF as a member. Founded in 1991, the company, registered in Aachen, is an independent research institute providing services to pharmaceutical and medico-technical companies. The company currently employs a staff of 40. In addition to the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies in Germany, the GPHF now has 21 member companies. The activities of INPUT GmbH focus on clinical studies and application-monitoring studies, biometry and statistics as well as epidemiological and pharmaco-economical issues. The company can draw on long experience in the fields of development and realisation of patient-training programmes, further education schemes for physicians and information material for field staff. In recent years, the company has supported various relief projects by providing both cash and non-cash contributions such as diagnostic equipment no longer needed after the completion of clinical studies. These projects included a children’s dispensary in Bombay, a slum outpatient clinic in Johannesburg and the Ethiopia relief project initiated by Karl-Heinz Böhm. Apart from generally supporting the GPHF project work, Input GmbH will in future assist the GPHF on scientific issues such as the medico-technical development of pilot projects or the evaluation of analyses accompanying various projects.
Thanking the Donors: On this occasion, the GPGF would like to thank the following donors for their generous support of its project work this year.
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