The Guidelines were never intended to serve as an international regulation; and they would never be accepted as such. However, they have certainly raised awareness of the potential benefits and problems of drug donations, and have often served as a starting point for intensive discussions within donor groups and between donor and recipient organizations. It was particularly these discussions, and a better exchange of information between donor and recipient, that have helped to rectify the imbalance between the two sides. Several recipients have confirmed that the Guidelines have enabled them to express openly how they would like to be helped, and have made it possible for them to refuse certain types of donations.

Thus it is the awareness and the discussion that have actually led to better donation practice, not the Guidelines themselves. This implies that further dissemination of the Guidelines is useful, and that governments and organizations should continue to be encouraged to discuss the issue of drug donations, and to develop their own guidelines.