“I would like to recommend the importance of the GIMS-Foundation initiative. In general there is a focus on accessability, affordability and quality of the medication in low and middle income countries, but the actual consumption of medication poses new and other questions. Questions wether the right person uses the right medicine, in the right dose, for the right amount of time, in compliance with the advises. The use of medication is always a balance between the expected benefits and the potential side-effects. Lack of balance threatens the patient. Disregarding the medication safety undermines the benefits, is a potential hazard, and is a waste of money. Monitoring medication safety is a key element in the work of health care professionals. The World Health Organization stimulates countries all over the world to establish national bodies for rational use of medicine in particular to find a balance between quality, safety and costs of the actual use of medication. The GIMS Foundation contributes to this balance by stimulating initiatives to guarantee the medication safety and is a partner for local, regional and national organizations. The Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine (IVM) has been very successful in the last 20 years to create the best benefit/risk ratio in the use of medicines in the Netherlands, leading to for example an optimal use of antibiotics and therefore the lowest level of antibiotic resistance in the world. We achieved this in close cooperation with general practitionars, specialists and pharmacists. We thus support the work of the GIMS Foundation and we are willing to cooperate in every possible way.”

Drs. Ruud Coolen van Brakel, director IVM, Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine