The European Pharmacopoeia is, at its heart, a book containing the information on and directions for compounding of over 2000 different substances used pharmaceutically in Europe.

It was developed by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines, with the first addition of the pharmacopoeia produced in 1967. The European Pharmacopoeia Commission, a group of countries for whom the European Pharmacopoeia is the only official one used, comprises 37 member countries (including the European Union), and 20 non-member or “observing” countries.

The JIDC and the NVGH- Fighting infectious diseases around the world

In a similar fashion to the development of the pharmacopoeia as a medical resource, the Journal of Infection in Developing Countries was created to collect information pertaining to human, animal, or environmental infections emerging or re-emerging in developing nations, with particular attention paid to the emergence of pandemics or epidemics, diagnosis, and the impact on public health. The main focus of the Journal of Infection in Developing Countries (JIDC) is to provide doctors and researchers within these countries a means of publishing the results of their research and experience for an international audience.

Following the crucial research catalogued in the JIDC, the pharmaceutical company Novartis has teamed up with partners around the world to create the NVGH: a new initiative for developing vaccines for neglected diseases in developing countries. Their combined efforts largely focus on the biggest killers in the developing world, like tuberculosis, dengue fever, malaria, and infectious diarrhea (one of the primary diseases that strike down young children), and developing preventative vaccines that can help permanently eliminate these dangers.

More information on the combined efforts of the publications and organizations mentioned in this paper can be found at http://www.oloep.org, while that pertaining to the publications of the JIDC can be found at http://www.oloep.org/jidc/.