By Daily Nation
The World Health Organization (WHO) has made a landmark decision of including a new co-packaged Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) and zinc sulphate in its Model List of Essential Medicines for Children.
This will reinforce the lifesaving benefits of ORS and zinc together for pediatric diarrhoea management and achieving alignment with the long-standing recommendation for the use of both therapies as frontline practice. In most cases, the co-package has proven to be significantly less expensive than purchasing the two products separately.
The decision follows a global effort led by the Diarrhea Innovations Group committed to reducing the global burden diarrheal diseases to make ORS and zinc more accessible in low-resource settings.
“Children in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities still die from diarrhea every day. This ground-breaking decision from the WHO will save lives,” said Dr. Andrew Murrison, the British International Development Minister.
EFFECTIVE TREATMENT
Both ORS and zinc are already listed as medicines used in diarrhea management, but as separate items with no formal guidance related to the use of co-packaged ORS and zinc existed. Read more>>
