Journal
JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACOTHERAPEUTICS
Volume 2, Issue 2, Pages 95-99Publisher
MEDKNOW PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA PVT LTD
DOI: 10.4103/0976-500X.81900
Keywords
Access to medicine; better medicines for children; national rural health mission
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: To collect information on the availability of five essential children's medicines in the public health facilities of India. Materials and Methods: A snap shot survey of the availability of fi ve essential medicines for children was conducted. Five medicines which are included in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) list for subcentres were selected, i.e., vitamin A liquid solution, syrup cotrimoxazole, oral rehydration salt (ORS), syrup paracetamol, and zinc sulphate (oral liquid or tablets). Information about this survey was posted in two e-groups for pharmacologists and pharmacists and volunteers were requested to collect data on the availability of these fi ve medicines and fi ll up a data sheet which was emailed back to the organizers. Data was collected from February 14 to 21, 2010. Results: Data were collected from 129 public health facilities spanning 17 states, two union territories and NCT Delhi. The overall median availability was 80% (range: 0%-100%). Punjab, Tamilnadu, and Jharkhand showed 100% median availability (range: 40%-100%). Ninety percent of the facilities have ORS, paracetamol, and cotrimoxazole whereas zinc was available in only 36% of the public health facilities. Syrup cotrimoxazole and ORS have 100% availability in all states except in four and paracetamol has nearly 100% availability in all but six states. Conclusion: The availability of essential medicines for children in public health facilities is not satisfactory and needs to be improved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available