Title: PHARMACEUTICALS AS A GLOBAL ISSUE

Author:

Section/SPIG: International Health

Issue Date:

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The IH Section Working Group on Pharmaceuticals as a Global Issue met for the first time in an evening session during the 2004 APHA Annual Meeting. In addition to those interested in pharmaceuticals, others interested in trade and health attended the meeting and 30 people, some from other sections, signed up as members of the working group. The cross-fertilization of interests will hopefully bring more breadth and vigor to future exchanges. The mission statement for the group, discussed and modified after the first meeting is: "Ensuring Equitable Access to Appropriate and Assured Quality Pharmaceuticals."

At the initial meeting members agreed that having more presentations and panels at the next APHA meeting was its first priority, in order to put a spotlight on an important topic that has received little attention at APHA annual meetings. Since that meeting, there has been ongoing exchange about specific issues, and six abstracts on pharmaceuticals were prepared by group members, with four of them proposed as a panel presentation.

An e-mail list of 30 members, with a group monitor, has been established. The group is eager to find additional members who would like to receive and send out information about pharmaceuticals as a global issue. (A Yahoo Group was established, but e-mail is considered more effective, so the Yahoo Group has been abandoned.) Please contact <mhuffrousselle@ssds.net> if you would like to join the group. Passive members are quite welcome, and active members will be cheered on.