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To the Editor: Several important factors related to access to essential drugs in poor countries are described by Dr Pécoul and colleagues,¹ but one of the most important factors is omitted. For the majority of the world's poor and most vulnerable citizens, there is no practitioner in their community trained in the prescription of essential drugs. There are indigenous practitioners in essentially all of these countries who are experienced clinicians but not formally trained in the allopathic system of medicine. They need to be trained in the use of essential drugs if these medications are to be truly accessible to the world's poor.

A major step in this direction was taken by the World Health Organization (WHO) Southeast Asia Regional Office in publication of their manual, Essential Drugs for Primary Care.² The manual describes the use of 35 essential drugs for the treatment of 18 common medical problems and clearly . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED ARTICLE

Access to Essential Drugs in Poor Countries: A Lost Battle?
Bernard Pécoul, Pierre Chirac, Patrice Trouiller, and Jacques Pinel
JAMA. 1999;281(4):361-367.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT