The 2011 conference will be the third International Conference for Improving Use of Medicines. The first two were in 1997 and 2004. They brought together leading national and international policy makers, program managers, researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders to produce state-of-the-art consensus on interventions to improve medicines use in non-industrialized countries, to define evidence-based recommendations for program implementation, and to generate global research agendas to fill gaps in knowledge.

ICIUM 1997: In April 1997, 272 researchers and policymakers from 43 countries gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the first International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines. This conference was a milestone event that produced expert international consensus on interventions to improve medicines use in non-industrialized countries and a 5-year global research agenda.

Based on the global research agenda, ICIUM 1997 partner organizations supported a total of 31 interventions and policy analyses under the auspices of the Joint Research Initiative on Improving Use of Medicines. These studies formed a core of presentations at ICIUM 2004. Visit the ICIUM 1997 website.

ICIUM 2004: Since ICIUM 1997, the field of essential medicines had encountered difficult new challenges. Health reforms and decentralization had taken place in many settings, and health care through the private sector was growing rapidly. New financing schemes to support access to essential medicines were being explored. Several new global initiatives were established to improve medicines access for people with HIV, TB, and malaria.

In April 2004, 472 leading multi-disciplinary researchers, national and international policy makers, patient advocates and clinicians representing 70 countries gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for the Second International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines (ICIUM 2004). Participants reported on the advances made since ICIUM 1997, developed consensus on strategies for improving use of medicines in light of the new and challenging global medicines environment, and a global research agenda to fill gaps in knowledge. Visit the ICIUM 2004 website.