ICIUM 2004 is part of a global effort to improve the use of medicines, particularly in non-industrialised countries.
The website of the Second International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines (ICIUM 2004), held beween 30 March and 2 April 2004 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, presents a range of conference materials which are free to view or download. These include:
- All abstracts and PowerPoint slides from all posters and oral presentations
- Selected videos of oral presentations from the first or last day
- Summaries of conference recommendations, both overall and topic-related
- A list of those who attended and contributed
Conference themes covered all systems in which medicine use is determined, from international and national policies to hospitals, health professionals, retail pharmaceutical sellers, and consumers. Discussion within each theme centered on specific health topics, including access to medicines, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, adult illness, children’s health, and antimicrobial resistance.
The website also summarises all ICIUM 2004’s consensus recommendations concerning policy implementation and priority research. These have been organised under 25 individual topic headings. Aimed at policymakers, these recommendations summarise existing knowledge about how to improve the use of medicines in non-industrialised settings, and are intended to form the basis for applied research programmes on medicines over the next five years. [adapted from author]