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The workshop on “Recent Developments
in Essential Medicines” was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 30th October-2nd
November. This co-incided with the 30th Anniversary of the WHO
Model List of Essential Medicines. Sri Lanka was one of the three
countries where global celebrations were taking place, the other two being Mozambique
and Peru.
All 11 countries participated in the workshop which
underscored the importance of the Essential Medicines Concept and National
Essential Medicines List to the countries. All countries had a functional
National Essential Medicines List and made use of it in their government
health services.
Two important recent developments that were discussed
during the workshop was the strong evidence-base for the selection of
Essential Medicines and the availability of this evidence in the Essential
Medicines website.
The recent initiative on Children’s Medicine where a
subset of Essential List of medicines has been developed was also discussed
and this type of medicines would be considered when NEMLs are being revised
in the region.
His Excellency, the President of Sri Lanka met the
Minister of Health, WHO Representative in Sri Lanka, senior Health Ministry
officials and all the participants of the meeting, acknowledging the
importance of the concept and the list as well as Sri Lanka’s contribution to this
global concept.
Despite the widespread acceptance in the public sector,
Essential Medicines need to be used much more in private sector healthcare if
the full potential of Essential Medicines is to be realised in the region.
The Essential Medicines Concept and it’s implementation
through the National Essential Medicines List has been WHO’s greatest
contribution to Member states in SEAR in the area of public health in
medicines.
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