New guidelines for drug donations during international emergencies have been issued by the World Health Organization.
The guidelines, which came in response to requests from relief organizations, call for drugs sent to emergencies to have a shelf life of at least a year, be clearly marked and be relevant. The guidelines are meant to ensure maximum benefit to the recipients and cut down on double standards in quality of drugs sent, noted the WHO; if a drug was not good enough to be used in the donor country it should not be sent elsewhere. In some disaster areas, donated drugs did more harm than good, it added.
Problems caused by previous donations, and cited by Reuters, include:
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