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"Health Promotes Development" New Exhibition Features all GPHF Pilot Projects The GPHF exhibition entitled "Health promotes development" is now available. A total of twelve information panels, 208 cm high and 83 cm wide, shows text and pictures on all pilot projects realised by the GPHF since 1985. The exhibition is complemented by a separate display for information brochures, etc. The exhibition specifically addresses the members and project partners of the GPHF. It requires only a few square meters of space, and setting it up is quick and easy. Ideal locations for the exhibition are entrance halls or conference facilities, or the visitors’ lunchroom or cafeteria of a company, etc. On the GPHF homepage (at www.gphf.org) you can view the complete exhibition under the keyword Publications. Members or project partners interested in displaying this presentation are requested to directly contact the GPHF office (phone/fax 0 69 - 63 15 32 57).
Drug Management - GPHF Examines a New Project Focus Besides its commitment to the battle against drug counterfeits and the co-ordination of drug donations, the GPHF is currently examining possible future involvement in the field of Drug Management in developing countries. The objective is to provide the competent authorities of these countries with know-how and practical tools to improve testing, storage and distribution of drugs under the specific conditions prevailing in developing countries. According to the current planning status, a special training schedule for pharmacy students from developing countries attending university in Germany might constitute a first step for the realisation of such a project, with the objective of their using such specific know-how in their home countries. The GPHF board has already had initial talks with potential project partners with a view to discussing opportunities for implementation in line with the realistic circumstances. The GPHF wishes its members, sponsors and project partners and all readers of the GPHF News a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year 2002.
Drug Counterfeits GPHF Minilab® Has Proved very Successful in Protecting People from Counterfeited Drugs. Four years ago, the mobile compact laboratory was subjected to first tests in the Philippines – today, it is successfully used in more than 20 countries worldwide. Four years ago, an unparalleled weapon in the battle against counterfeited or substandard drugs was first utilised in practice: the GPHF Minilab®. In autumn 1997, the pharmacist Dr Richard Jähnke tested this mobile, tropics-compatible compact laboratory for the first time under the conditions prevailing in developing countries. This test, effected in the Philippines, proved a resounding success. Today, nearly 70 minilabs are operated in 22 countries worldwide. Before long, test substances and solvents for testing 30 of the key drugs consumed on a global level will be available for use with the minilab. With the development of the minilab in the mid-nineties, the GPHF was one of the first organisations to respond to the hazards resulting from counterfeited or substandard drugs. Reports on the distribution of such drugs had repeatedly led to public alarm: in 1999 in Nigeria or in 1996 in Haiti, counterfeit or substandard drugs had caused the death of hundreds of persons. The most severely affected regions have been, and continue to be, the developing countries. The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately seven per cent of the drug volume sold worldwide is deliberately counterfeited, contaminated or of substandard quality. The annual turnover achieved on this "black market for drugs" is estimated at 10 billion US dollars. Along with the criminal energy of the completely unscrupulous counterfeiters, insufficient monitoring of drug supply is one of the main reasons why in many developing countries the health of the population is jeopardised by this potential but lethal danger. Practical Help for the People Affected In contrast to some quite ambitious projects which, however, are not in line with local conditions, the objective of the GPHF Minilab® was from the outset to quickly establish in a cost-effective manner and by using simple but reliable methods whether a drug is substandard or counterfeited and thus detrimental to health. The objective of this project is not the export of complicated and expensive analysis tools but rather the immediate protection of the inhabitants of those regions in the world that are most threatened by drug counterfeits. The minilab, supplied in two containers of the size of standard suitcases, uses a four-stage test method starting with visual inspection and continuing through a disintegration test and colour reactions to semi-quantitative thin-layer chromatography tests. Thanks to its independence from external power supply, this mobile and tropics-compatible laboratory very quickly demonstrates whether a drug effectively contains the agents declared in sufficient quantity and in the required quality. The quantities of reagents and solvents supplied in the start-up package are sufficient to realise at least 1,000 test runs for the verification of drug potency. Operated in Numerous Countries The GPHF Minilab® is now in operation in 22 African, Asian and Latin-American countries. In total, 68 laboratory units are functional in hospitals, rural health stations or other health-service institutions. To date, no erroneous result of the test methods has been reported. "Even though there are no precise figures available, we are convinced that the minilab has saved the health or even the life of many people by keeping them from consuming counterfeited and thus harmful drugs", summarises Dr Gabriele Küsters, the GPHF chairwoman. According to her, the mobile laboratory is likely to assume a key role in many countries all over the world in the improvement of the quality of the drugs locally available thanks to its reliable and inexpensive test methods. A complete information package on the GPHF Minilab® and extensive background information on the subject of drug counterfeits are contained in the GPHF Homepage at www.gphf.org. In addition, the GPHF office will be pleased to mail you free of charge a special copy of the document entitled "Low-Cost Quality Assurance Of Medicines Using The GPHF Minilab®" published by the American Drug Information Association. Countries in which one or more GPHF Minilabs have been operated since 1997:
Aventis Supports the World Health Organisation in the Battle against Sleeping Sickness Trypanosomiasis, the infectious disease more usually known as "sleeping sickness", threatens more than 60 million people. The regions most affected are the African countries south of the Sahara where more than 500,000 persons fall ill every year – with many of them dying because once the disease has reached an advanced stage, the pathogenic agents (trypanosomes) attack the central nervous system and cause extremely severe damage than can be lethal. Even today, only 10 per cent of all occurrences are diagnosed and treated in Africa. But now, there is some hope for a swift change, nourished by a promising project initiated in May 2001 in Geneva in co-operation between the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Aventis Pharma: over a period of five years, Aventis will support the WHO’s activities in the fight against trypanosomiasis in Africa to the tune of 25 million US-dollars. The parties agreed that Aventis
The WHO is confident that with the commitment of Aventis the further spread of the sleeping sickness can be contained and reduced, as the WHO’s General Director Brundtland explained when first presenting the project. In addition, the Aventis project partners consider the co-operation with the WHO a very promising project. In the words of Richard J. Markham, the Chief Executive Officer of Aventis Pharma AG: "This partnership is a good example for a co-operation between the public and the private sectors in finding viable solutions in the battle against life-threatening diseases." After only a few months, indications are that these expectations are justified. The first drug supplies have arrived in Africa, and the set-up of the required medical infrastructure has commenced. Over and above their membership in the GPHF, numerous GPHF members are committed to improving in many ways the basic health-care service in developing countries. In future, the GPHF News will from time to time portray pioneering projects and initiatives. The first report of this series is this presentation of the co-operation between the World Health Organisation and GPHF member Aventis in the fight against sleeping sickness.
News from the GPHF Project Work: Start of the Tuberculosis Project in Saratow on Schedule The pilot project for the diagnosis and cure of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Russian town of Saratow on the Volga river has successfully started. According to the project manager’s first preliminary status report, the examination materials have already been delivered to Saratow, and the reference laboratory has started work. The project partners of the GPHF in Russia are the Federal Ministry of Health, the Foreign Office and the Johanniter International relief organisation. Myanmar: New GPHF Project The long-standing project co-operation between the GPHF and the World Health Organisation in the field of the diagnosis and therapy of parasitic infectious diseases now includes a project recently started in Myanmar. Within a special training project, the prerequisites for long-term improvement of health-care services in this South-East Asian country are to be established. In this respect, the project partners can fall back on ample experience gathered in the implementation of comparable joint projects in Tanzania, the Seychelles and in Laos.
Thanks to Donors The GPHF would like to thank the following companies for their generous support of its project work:
Kilian GmbH Funds a Minilab Instead of giving Christmas presents to its customers, the Cologne-based Kilian GmbH, one of the world's leading manufacturers of tablet presses, will finance one GPHF Minilab® for a developing country. The GPHF hopes that this generous and outstanding initiative, with its significant contribution to the improvement of health care, will in future be imitated by many more companies.
In Brief: Further Spread of HIV/AIDS On the occasion of the World Aids Day on December 1, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, reports a dramatic further spread of the immunodeficiency virus. On a global level, 40 million children and adults are now infected, with the worst affected part of the world still being Africa. However, the world’s highest growth rates are now recorded in the Ukraine, with the situation in Russia little better. Threatening Growth According to the United Nations, the increasing depletion of natural resources resulting from a rise in the world’s population represents a serious hazard for the earth. "More people are consuming more resources than ever before." This is a quote from the World Population Report 2001 published by the UN. The reports makes clear that urgent action is required to stop over-exploitation of nature and to prevent a catastrophe. There is at least a glimmer of hope in the fact that almost 60 per cent of all women have now access to various forms of family planning. The full report can be obtained from Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, telephone 05 11 - 9 43 73 - 0, and certain other organisations. Climatic Change: Developing Countries most Affected During the past hundred years, the average global temperature has risen from 13.7 to 14.3 degrees Celsius. This climatic temperature rise, which may at first sight appear negligible, will have dramatic consequences for human health. The worst affected regions are the developing countries. Experts estimate that as a result of the rise in temperature, there will be a further increase in regions where infectious diseases (malaria, dengue fever, leishmaniase, etc.) are already widespread today.
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