Medicines use in primary care in developing and transitional countries: fact book summarizing results from studies reported between 1990 and 2006.

Promoting rational use of medicines is becoming a priority issue for governments and other organizations all over the world. Evidence suggests, however, that more than half of all medicines are not used appropriately. Due to various reasons, irrational use of medicines is more common in developing and transitional countries. Measuring how medicines are used is the first step towards understanding and documenting these problems. Drug utilization and pharmaco-epidemiological studies can investigate problems with use of medicines, suggest possible interventions to improve their use and measure the impact of these interventions. Although the situation is improving, it is difficult for researchers in developing countries to obtain information about published drug utilization studies.