In the early 1980s, the Ministry of Health National Essential Drugs Programme published the Standard Treatment Guidelines for health centres and dispensaries in the form of a wall chart and a handbook for rural health workers. These have been the basis for the rural health drug supply kits and for Continuing Education programmes for health workers at this level.

In 1994, the Ministry of Health published the National Drug Policy (NDP), the Essential Drugs List (EDL) and the Standard Treatment Clinical Guidelines.

The publication of the Second Edition (updated) EDL and the Clinical Guidelines is an important milestone in pursuance of the NDP. These Guidelines are neither prescriptive nor restrictive. They are facilitative, enabling and set a firm basis towards the attainment of equity in health care, developing rational use of drugs by all prescribers, dispensers and patients.

The Guidelines are for the use of Clinicians who have the primary responsibility for diagnosis and management of outpatients and inpatients. This includes doctors, clinical officers, nurses and midwives caring for maternity patients. The Guidelines should be useful to medical students, clinical officers, pharmacists and nurses in training and generally to health professionals working in the clinical setting.

This revised manual is the result of considerable collective effort of senior clinicians from the Ministry of Health, the University of Nairobi and the Kenyatta National Hospital. Efforts have been made to include the most recent recommendation of the Ministry of Health specialised disease programmes and the World Health Organisation.

On behalf of the Ministry of Health many thanks are accorded to all contributors, reviewers and the editors who have worked so hard to make the Guidelines a reality.

The regular use of the Guidelines by clinicians countrywide will improve and encourage the rational use of available drugs and thus contribute albeit in a modest way towards the realisation of the health sector vision of "creating an enabling environment for the provision of sustainable quality health care that is acceptable, affordable and accessible to all Kenyans".

Dr. Richard O. Muga, MBS
Director of Medical Services

October. 2002