Pharmacists join push for diarrhoea, pneumonia treatment

The Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) has asked the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, to help push for the adoption of amoxicilin dispersible tablets for treatment of pneumonia and zinc low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution for treatment of diarrhoea in children. PACFaH, a coalition of seven civil society groups working to improve […]

The Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) has asked the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, to help push for the adoption of amoxicilin dispersible tablets for treatment of pneumonia and zinc low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution for treatment of diarrhoea in children.

PACFaH, a coalition of seven civil society groups working to improve health care, said both diseases are considered responsible for the deaths of an estimated 400,000 children aged under five every year, citing official health statistics.

"The number is almost criminal," said Remi Adeseun, programme director for the coalition led by the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, during talks with PCN in Abuja.

"Watching the nation lose almost 400,000 children to two diseases that are treatable is bad."

"And in states like Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, you have as high a burden as in the north [which have the highest], so it is not a northern thing," Adeseun added.

PACFaH wants PCN to be a "credible voice" in demanding more funding and support to promote use of both medicines in integrated community case management of both diseases.

"A voice from PCN making the case in inter- and intra-ministerial meeting is one the government will listen to," Adeseun added, citing need for regulatory agencies to uphold global commitments Nigeria made to save millions of women and children.

PCN, which regulates pharmaceutical premises, products and pharmacists, also works to revitalise patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMV) and expand the mind of first-line workers in rural areas.

"PPMVs do not understand that they are this business because someone is sick," said PCN registrar Elijah Mohammed. "We have to re-orientate their minds. If we change that mindset, the issue of fake drugs will decline."

Mohammed said the council is working to include both amoxicilin dispersible tablets and zinc ORS on the approved list of medicines that chemists and pharmacies can carry or sell.