Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18250

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Ed.
Rational use of medicines
Lancet 2010 Jun 12; 375:(9731):2052
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60944-0/fulltext

Abstract:

According to a fact sheet by WHO (May, 2010) about the rational use of medicines, more than 50% of all medicines are not correctly prescribed, dispensed, and sold; and more than 50% of patients take their drugs incorrectly. The situation is worse in developing countries, with less than 40% of patients in the public sector and less than 30% in the private sector being treated according to clinical guidelines. Several factors contribute to the incorrect use of medicines-eg, prescribers might obtain information about treatments from pharmaceutical companies rather than referring to evidence-based clinical guidelines; incomplete diagnosis of a patient’s disease could result in inadequate provision of treatment; and patients might seek affordable versions of expensive drugs on the internet that are not quality assured.