Geneva/London - A global campaign to provide more "child- size" medicines and reduce deaths among children was launched Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO). Around 10.5 million children could be saved every year if they simply had access to medicines or to treatment developed specifically for them, according to the WHO.
In industrialized societies more than half the children were prescribed medicines dosed for adults and not authorized for children. In developing countries the problem was compounded by lack of access to treatments.
In calling for more research and development into suitable drugs, WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said: "The gap between the availability and the need for child-appropriate medicines touches wealthy as well as poor countries."
Children metabolized drugs differently to adults, while weight, age and physical conditions were all factors that needed to be considered.
WHO Director of Medicines Policy Dr Hans Hogerzeil told journalists in Geneva: "We have looked at all medicines for adults and looked at whether they are suitable for children and many of them are not or don't even exist."
The "missing essential medicines" included drugs for resisting TB, combination therapies for TB and HIV/AIDS and malaria as well as treatments for many parasitic diseases. There were also missing medicines for antibiotics, asthma and pain relief.
Pneumonia alone caused an estimated two million deaths in children under five each year and HIV killed 330,000 under 15.
WHO Assistant Director-General Dr Howard Zucker said: "These illnesses can be treated but many children don't stand a chance because the medicines are either not appropriate for their age or don't reach them or are priced too high, up to three times the price of adult drugs."
"More medicines must be made child size," he added. That meant considering the needs of children in dosage forms and preparations so that tablets were not too big and serums too bitter.
WHO also released the first international list of essential medicines for children as a guide for health care systems.
