[afro-nets] Practical Pharmacy newsletter relaunched

["HAI Africa" <info@haiafrica.org>]

Practical Pharmacy newsletter relaunched
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During the 1990's a group of experts founded a newsletter called Practical Pharmacy. Written in simple language, it was created to help health workers in developing countries to manage medicines supply. Many of these workers found themselves responsible for managing medicines even though they had little training or information in this field.

Between 1996 and 2000, fifteen issues of Practical Pharmacy were produced, and circulation reached over 4000. An evaluation confirmed the need for this type of information but unfortunately it was not possible to continue publishing at that time. Now, a group of organizations including Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN), Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS), Sustainable Healthcare Foundation (SHEF), and Health Action International (HAI) Africa, partnered together to revive the quarterly newsletter with the guidance of an expert advisory group.

The first editions of Practical Pharmacy laid a solid foundation, beginning from basic essential skills for medicine management in a health centre setting (storing medicines, stock control, etc) and moving on to patient-centred topics (rational prescribing, medicines in pregnancy and the elderly, etc).  The October 2006 issue is taking up from where the last issue stopped: on the topic of malaria.  The older issues of the newsletter currently being updated and will be reissued soon on the web so that the vital information they contain will not be lost.

Over the next few months, the new issues of the newsletter will cover the following topics: 

*	HIV and AIDS: HIV treatment, adherence to ARVs 
*	Tuberculosis: treatment, multi-drug resistant TB 
*	Rational use of medicines in the community 
*	Infection control 

Since the newsletter was first published, the Information Age has taken off, even in the developing world. For this reason, as well as for reasons of cost, the newsletter will be distributed electronically through individual (no cost) subscriptions, and through the networks of EPN, MEDS, SHEF, HAI Africa, HAI Asia Pacific, HAN Ghana, and CWGH Zimbabwe.

To read more, please go to http://www.haiafrica.org and to receive Practical Pharmacy by email, please subscribe by sending a request to mailto:practicalpharmacy@gmail.com

We hope you will benefit from Practical Pharmacy and we look forward to hearing your feedback!

Health Action International (HAI) Africa
P.O. Box 66054 00800
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 3860434-6
Fax: +254 20 3860437
Web site: http://www.haiafrica.org
Email: mailto:info@haiafrica.org

Health Action International (HAI) is an independent global network working to increase access to essential medicines and improve their rational use.