The provision of complete health care necessitates the availability of safe, effective and affordable drugs of the required quality, in adequate quantity at all times. Moreover, the available drugs must be prescribed, dispensed and used by the patient rationally.

The Ethiopian drug policy which was issued on November, 1993 has reaffirmed the commitment of the Ethiopian Government to this principle.

To realize this objective it would be necessary to select drugs which are required for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and/or mitigation of diseases which affect the majority of the Ethiopian people and classify them by level of health care.

The Ethiopian National Drug List is now revised for the fourth time in the light of the above principle and also on the basis of the latest development in the fields of medicine and pharmacy.

This fourth edition of the national drug list is categorized by five levels of health care following the existing four-tier health care delivery system of the country and part of the old six-tier system (i.e. health stations which are being phased-out).

Categorization of the list was also done after considering important factors such as functions/services, diagnostic facilities, level of training of health personnel at each level of health care unit and other drug related factors.

It gives me a great pleasure to introduce this edition of the list to all beneficiaries, which is the fruit of the joint-effort of the staff of the Drug Administration and Control Authority as well as the participants of the review workshop.

I hope that the national drug list as well as its sub-lists will serve as useful guides for procurement, distribution and prescription of drugs in the country.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have directly or indirectly contributed to the revision, preparation and printing of the list. I also call upon your continued support to keep the list up-to-date by forwarding comments and suggestions to the drug administration and control Authority.

Haileselassie Bihon

General Manager of DACA