[Guidelines on drug donations are not sufficient for effective coordination: the case of Mostar in former Yugoslavia]

This article deals with the problem of restoring and repairing the supply and distribution of drugs, a vital service damaged by long-term conflicts. During the post-war situation in Bosnia the Authors have been actively involved in the implementation of the Drugs Management Programme whose principal aims were as follows: 1) rationalise the arrival and storage of new drugs; 2) utilise efficiently the stocks of drugs and medical materials at hand; 3) cope with the steady post-war decrease of humanitarian aid drug donations; 4) eliminate the large quantities of expired or inappropriate drugs. The experience stresses the need that all EU countries adopt as far as possible the strict WHO guidelines in their donations to countries in emergency situations. However a very flexible organisation should be set up immediately after the conflict in order to tackle all the problems that, no doubt, will appear in the aftermath of a war.