Cover Malaysia Statistisc on Medicine (Bahagian Depan) - CRC

PREFACEEnsuring access to quality and affordable medicines is one important objective of <strong>Malaysia</strong>’s NationalMedicines Policy. The National Medicines Use Survey (NMUS) was conducted with the intent tocontinuously and systematically collect data on medicines in the hope to further improve its use as well asproviding a tool for better decision making in the allocation of healthcare resources for the <strong>Malaysia</strong>npopulation.NMUS is into its fourth year and we are glad to announce the successful publication of its third report, the<strong>Malaysia</strong>n Statistics on Medicines (MSOM) 2006. It is worthwhile to note that the first report MSOM 2004presented results largely from pilot surveys and using test methods basically to demonstrate that sucha project was feasible in a healthcare system such as <strong>Malaysia</strong> that has many players. In 2005, wescaled up the survey with larger sample size and wider distribution and also refined data processing andstatistical methods. For MSOM 2006, data collection was on a similar scale; the data processing wasfurther enhanced to improve quality and the statistical methods reviewed to take into considerationstratification of hospitals which gives more accurate estimates as hospitals of different sizes may have a druguse profile. The data processing and complex statistical methods as explained in the methods section of thispublication. Hence results in MSOM 2006, in our opinion are more reliable, more representative and morerobust.Eleven new chapters are added, bringing in a total of 25 in MSOM 2006 compared to the 14 chapters in MSOM2005. We are optimistic that more chapters will be reported in future publications of MSOM.We hope that this MSOM 2006 report will be useful to relevant healthcare professionals serving as a sourceof reference and baseline for embarking in future research or clinical audits towards improving rationalprescribing.We would like to thank all staff who had worked very hard in ensuring the success of the survey, all agenciesand institutions that had helped in providing data, all expert panel members for their enthusiasm andcontributions in completing the chapter reports and each and everyone who have in one way or another contributedto the success of NMUS and this publication.Pharmaceutical Services DivisionClinical Research CentreMinistry of Health <strong>Malaysia</strong>i