Pharmacists key providers of information for alternative medicines
New guidelines from the World Health Organization acknowledge pharmacists as one of the key information providers for alternative medicines. The guidelines have been produced to help health services develop specific and reliable information for consumer use of these therapies.
The document highlights increasing use of alternative and traditional
medicines, which has been accompanied by reports that adverse reactions
in both developing and developed countries have more than doubled in
three years. The WHO says that these trends raise concerns over the quality
of the products used, their therapeutic appropriateness for a given condition
and the lack of medical follow-up.The guidelines suggest issues to look
out for and provide a checklist of questions that may be used to help
facilitate proper use of traditional and alternative medicine.
Advice is provided to government authorities on preparing easy-to-access
information and suggestions are given for promoting proper use of traditional
and alternative medicines in several health system structures. This includes
using pharmacists as information sources and discussing self-medication
using alternative therapies with a pharmacist.
A link to the guidelines is available here |
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