Evaluating drugs and determining the drug needs of developed and developing countries.

The practice of reviewing drug utilization provides a surveillance system for monitoring the efficiency of drug distribution and drug consumption; it also provides a data base for the interpretation of the frequency of adverse drug reactions and helps to identify gaps in the delivery of a crucial aspect of health services: the provision of safe and efficacious medicines. Malconsumption (either over- or under-utilization or needless prescribing) can be identified and economies might be achieved, once these problems are corrected. Linking drug utilization with standard health indices, such as morbidity and mortality rates, can help assess the effects of widely used drugs, both adverse and beneficial. Drug utilization review should be considered an essential activity of a well-organized health delivery system; it has great potential for both health planning and evaluation. These positions are discussed as they relate to developed and developing countries.