These guidelines will be of interest to all who are concerned to ensure that adequate supplies of drugs are available for those who need them. They will be of use to pharmaceutical policy-makers at the national level, as well as to all who produce, distribute or dispense drugs. This book is practical. It discusses specific problems, using illustrations which it is hoped will help in making decisions. It does not offer any ready-made solutions, which would be both futile and dangerous, but instead proposes ways to analyse the pharmaceutical sector. For a similar analysis less geared to decision-making, refer to Access to drugs and finance: basic economic and financial analysis (1).