Inadequate drug donations

Lack of coordination and the absence of an assessment of the actual needs were some of the reasons why drug donations caused more problems rather than helped the populations which were affected by the tsunami in December 2004.

This is the conclusion of a survey carried out by Pharmaciens Sans Frontières – Comité International (PSF-CI) on the usefulness of the drug donations for the tsunami-affected populations.

It is difficult for a recipient to refuse a donation that has already arrived. Therefore, in order to actually help crisis-affected countries instead of create more problems, the PSF-CI recommends that:

• The Guidelines for Drug Donations must be observed  
• WHO emergency type kits (New Emergency Health Kits) must be applied
• Technical support by pharmaceutical experts must be provided in the post-emergency phase
• Organisations who are trained and prepared for immediate action handle the response 

After the tsunami 4.000 tonnes of drugs were received in the Aceh Province for a population of 2 million people. The PSF-CI survey states that:

- 60 % of the drugs were not on the national list of essential drugs

- 70 % of the drugs were labelled in a foreign language (i.e. Chinese, Hindi, Japanese)

- 25 % of the drugs had an inadequate expiry date

- Some drugs arrived in extremely large quantities. As an example, the quantity of Oral Rehydration Salt delivered was sufficient for 5-8 years’ supply

- It is predicted that 17% of the drugs (approx. 600 tonnes) will have to be destroyed at an estimated cost of EUR 2.4 million.

Based on this, the survey concludes that it is wrong to claim that any drug is useful in an emergency situation.

Instead, a crisis calls for a variety of different specific drugs relevant to the situation. This is important in order to avoid the risk of flooding the affected countries with tonnes of drugs, that not only constitute a public health hazard because their distribution and control are poorly managed, but also constitute a destabilising factor in the local economy not least because of the costly destruction of the inadequate drugs.

The survey which was financed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) was conducted in the Spring 2005 in health centres, hospitals and pharmaceutical warehouses in the tsunami-affected districts of the Aceh Province in Indonesia.

(Source: Pharmaciens Sans Frontieres Comité International: Study on Drug Donations in the Province of Aceh in Indonesia (Synthesis))