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Drug
Donations: Ulla Schmidt, German Federal Minister of Health, Praises GPHF Initiative The GPHF initiative aimed at securing a high-quality drug-donation practice in Germany is meeting with increasing response. The declaration entitled "Good Drug-Donation Practice in Germany", prepared in co-operation between the GPHF, the German Red Cross, the Deutsches Institut für Ärztliche Mission (German Institute for Medical Mission) and Deutsches Medikamenten-Hilfswerk action medeor (a German drug-donation organisation), has now not only been signed by Malteser Hilfsdienst e.V. and Apotheker ohne Grenzen Deutschland e.V. but also praised by Ulla Schmidt, the Federal Minister of Health, who strongly recommended its further distribution and implementation. The wording of this declaration will be published in the October issue of the Bundesgesundheitsblatt (Federal Health Gazette). In this connection, the Minister states: "By printing the wording of this declaration in the Federal Health Gazette complemented by a summary of the guidelines for drug donations, I would like to express my hope that these principles, already implemented by quite a number of key agencies, will be published and complied with on a broader basis." The publishing of, and compliance with a good drug-donation practice in Germany also prompted the decision of the Malteser Hilfsdienst and of Apotheker ohne Grenzen to sign this declaration. On the occasion of the signing, the Chairman of Apotheker ohne Grenzen Deutschland, Ulrich Brunner, stated: "Our explicit objective is to make known a good drug-donation practice in Germany." Dr Carola Fink-Anthe, GPHF board member, is pleased with the high degree of approval and support met by the declaration. "We hope that many more organisations will join the declaration so that we will be in a position to jointly make a substantial contribution to a good drug-donation practice in Germany." In signing this declaration, the signatories undertake to align their drug donations with the guidelines drawn up by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and to base their donations on certain criteria. These include: maximum benefit for the recipients, a uniform quality standard and an effective consultation between donor and recipient. In view of this, the GPHF is also offering to co-ordinate drug donations between pharmaceutical companies and relief organisations in the case of urgent humanitarian emergency situations. The wording of the good drug-donation practice declaration can be accessed in the Internet under: www.gphf.org/web_en/projekte/index.htm Apotheker ohne Grenzen Deutschland e.V., the German branch of Pharmaciens Sans Frontières, was founded in June 2000. This non-profit organisation registered in Eschborn (near Frankfurt am Main) focuses its activities on pharmaceutical support and successfully realised its first relief campaigns last year in Romania and India. Malteser Hilfsdienst e.V. was founded in Germany in 1953. With over 800,000 members, 32,000 voluntary assistants and 4,000 full-time employees it is today one of the major German relief organisations. Its main tasks include first-aid training, rescue and ambulance services, disaster control, emergency and disaster-control services abroad, development aid and the support of numerous social services in Germany. On a global level, the Maltese relief organisations accomplish charitable and social missions in more than 90 countries.
Republic
of South Africa: First Status Report on Project Co-operation with Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung Since the end of 2000, the GPHF has been fostering a pilot project for sensitising youngsters in the Republic of South Africa to the dangers of HIV/AIDS. A first status report has now been submitted to the GPHF by Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, its project partner. This report demonstrates the successful phase-in of this project which aims to address over 11,000 youngsters directly. Its particular feature is its implementation by the youngsters themselves, i.e. they inform their peers on issues of reproductive health, family planning and HIV/AIDS. This sensitisation is based on the slang familiar to them, their habits and the communications means accessible to them. In the project area covering five municipalities in the Albany District in the Eastern Cape region, seven youth groups have now been set up and 78 youngsters trained as so-called "peer educators". They were provided with an in-depth training on issues of sexual and reproductive health and on communication methods appealing to youngsters. Their future tasks will consist in sensitising young people on sexuality, in setting up self-help groups and in distributing contraceptives available without prescription, in particular condoms, to protect the youngsters from AIDS and from undesired pregnancy. Further, the initial project stage included activities aimed at preparing and launching an intensive sensitisation campaign in the months to come which will make use of theatre performances, posters and postcards. At the same time, a distribution system for condoms has been initiated. For this purpose, condom dispensers were installed in two schools and one bar, and will be refilled on a weekly basis. In addition, any such activities are embedded in youth-specific health care services and supporting measures taken by the municipalities, such as the provision of premises, so that more than 8,000 youngsters have already received individual advice.
Thanking the Donors The GPHF would like to thank the following companies for having generously supported its project work:
Drug
Counterfeits: GPHF Trained Pharmacists in Katmandu / Increasing Demand for Minilab / Tests for ten additional Agents under Preparation "In common with many other regions, counterfeited or substandard drugs are a well-known problem on the Roof of the World, too, but now the Nepalese health authorities seem firmly resolved to curb any such activities", summarises Dr Richard Jähnke his two weeks’ stay in Nepal. In co-operation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the local health authorities, the GPHF representative last summer trained seven Nepalese pharmacists on the test methods used by the Minilab for identifying counterfeited or substandard drugs. The German pharmacist’s arrival in Nepal coincided with the scheduled arrival of three minilabs funded by the WHO. In future they will be used for monitoring drug quality along the border with India. This area has not been chosen at random, for 80 per cent of the drugs consumed in Nepal come from India. Most of them are brought into the country by hawkers by-passing the government-controlled distribution channels. So-called "druggists" finally sell them to the population. The origin of the drugs is in most cases unknown, as is quality control. "Of course this situation is an eldorado for counterfeiters of all sorts", states Dr Jähnke, "but considering the country’s extremely difficult political and economic situation you cannot for a start expect more than small steps when trying to improve drug quality. This is exactly where our minilab will provide valuable help." Dr Jähnke is confident that additional minilabs will in future be deployed in Nepal – with the central customs laboratory and various military hospitals, etc. having already shown their interest – so that on a long-term basis a network of local monitoring points will be established with a view to assuring drug quality on the Roof of the World, too. Rising Demand But Nepal is not the only country in urgent need of the minilab; this is manifested by the considerable number of inquiries registered by the GPHF during the past weeks. "We receive an inquiry almost every day, which in many cases is followed by an order", GPHF Chairwoman Dr Küsters is pleased to state. "To date we have supplied six minilabs to Tanzania alone. Therefore, we see a realistic chance to realise soon our objective of providing drug tests for entire areas in selected regions. Test Methods for New Agents and a New Look for the Minilab In addition, the GPHF is intensifying its efforts to develop test methods for ten further drug agents, and it is planned to make these available at the beginning of next year. In total, the easy-to-use and tropics-compatible minilab test methods can then be used for analysing 30 major substances. The test method for the artesunat agents has already been released and published in the Internet under www.gphf.org/web_en/publikationen/index.htm. In the meantime, the two suitcases making up the minilab have been optimised by retrofitting them with user-friendly rollers; thanks to the improved interior arrangement they now offer more space for the laboratory instruments and test substances whilst their volume has remained the same.
In Brief: Bayer AG has announced its intention to provide the World Health Organisation free of charge with its Germanin and Lampit drugs to combat sleeping sickness for a period of five years.
Indonesia: Successful Completion of the GPHF Project According to UNICEF estimates, the intellectual development of several million children worldwide is retarded by iodine deficiency. In Indonesia, too, iodine-deficiency disorders used to represent a major problem to public health – with the persons affected being mainly children. For this reason, country-wide salt iodination was introduced in 1979 as a preventive measure so that the thyroid enlargement prevalence significantly declined by the beginning of the nineties. With substantial support by the GPHF, a new evaluation programme was realised in 1998 and 1999 aimed at the provision of the Indonesian population with iodine. The core element of this programme was the so-called ThyroMobile, a mobile examination and information centre which is equipped i.a. with an ultrasonograph, a freezer and an examination table. The objective of this programme was to draw up an up-to-date status report on the iodine supply in Indonesia, to inform the population of the potential hazards of iodine deficiency and, if necessary, to identify any additional preventive measures required. The analysis methods used were the standardised ultrasound measurement of the thyroid gland and the identification of the iodine concentration in urine. For this purpose, the GPHF teamed up with the University of Jakarta, the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) and the GPHF member company Merck. This survey covered a total of 7,447 schoolchildren of 6 – 12 years of age in 129 selected locations in five Indonesian provinces (four in Java and Sumatra and one in Bali). The ThyroMobile paid visits to all locations selected and effected the appropriate examinations. The final report drawn up after the collection of an extensive data stock includes the following statements:
GPHF Organises Exhibition Currently, the GPHF is organising an exhibition on the projects it has realised during the past 15 years. This exhibition, documented on twelve panels, illustrates the objectives of the association, its long-standing co-operation with the WHO and the individual projects realised. After completion, the exhibition materials and documents will be in particular made available to GPHF members. Very soon, detailed information on the exhibition and its contents can be accessed on the Internet at www.gphf.org.
Wyeth Pharma a New GPHF Member The Wyeth Pharma GmbH (registered in Münster) is a new GPHF member. The company is the German branch of Wyeth-Ayerst Global Pharmaceuticals and is part of the American Home Products Cooperation (AHPC), one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, registered in Madison/USA. The activities of Wyeth-Ayerst are focussed on research, development, manufacturing and marketing of drugs and vaccines available on prescription only. A good deal of product development is concentrated on biotechnology, small molecules and biologicals. With its range of innovative products and services covering the therapeutic areas of gynaecology, metabolism, oncology, immunology and vaccination, etc., the company is a competent partner for physicians and patients. With a total of over 50,000 employees worldwide, AHPC is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical companies. Apart from the Verband Forschender Arzneimittelhersteller (VFA), the number of GPHF members now includes 22 pharmaceutical companies.
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