Table 2.

Possible options for providing poisons centre services in Eastern Africa.

Option 1	Create one ‘super-centre’ to serve the needs of Eastern Africa. This could be an expansion of an existing centre or the development of a new centre
Option 2	Create a small number of PICs (grouped by language) to serve multiple countries in the sub-region. Where possible, these should build on existing centres, and not necessarily just those within Eastern Africa
Option 3	The PIC service should be provided by means of an internet-based toxicology database, to which users must subscribe and that logs each contact. This could be maintained by a commercial entity or a PIC in Africa or abroad
Option 4	Each country should be encouraged to create and maintain its own PIC service
Option 4 (variant)	Each country should be encouraged to create and maintain its own PIC service. These centres would be networked and coordinated through a network hub
Option 5	The status quo should be maintained, i.e. no new PICs would be created