Plans afoot to include zinc to prevent deaths from diarrhoea. PHOTO: FILE
For the last two years, the government’s plan to include zinc in the list of essential drugs to prevent deaths among children under five years of age due to diarrhoeal illness has been in doldrums.
Talking to The Express Tribune, an official in the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, who wished not to be named, said a scale-up plan for essential medicines for child health has also been drafted, however the government is yet to adopt this plan and has only agreed that zinc be included in the essential drugs’ list.
He said that zinc with low osmolarity ORS is one of the most cost-effective interventions recommended by the World Health Organisation, but unfortunately in Pakistan, ORS is prescribed by itself for treating diarrhoea.
“Including zinc in the list of essential drugs can help prevent over 50,000 children’s deaths under the age of five in Pakistan every year due to diarrhoeal illness,” said the official.
“Even at the federal level zinc has not yet been included in the list of essential drugs due to which many paediatricians at public hospitals are treating children by prescribing anti-diarrhoeal drugs,” said the official.
“Zinc deficiency in children also causes diarrhoea which sometimes leads to death.” Zinc is produced in low quantities in Pakistan due to lack of demand and the major reason is that paediatricians do not prescribe it due to which parents do not buy it, said the official.
Diarrhoea management policy was agreed to in principle but due to the government’s negligence it is yet to be implemented.
A paediatrician at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) said every day if on an average 100 children visit the out-patient department (OPD), 60 per cent are sick directly or indirectly because of diarrhoea.
He said the disease was common among children living both in urban and rural areas but most of them are from the suburbs of the capital. He was of the view that in rural areas usually mothers tried to treat diarrhoea with traditional remedies which was sometimes harmful for children under the age of five.
“It is true that the best treatment for diarrhoea is through zinc but how can we prescribe it when it is not included in the list of essential drugs in the hospital?” asked the doctor.
When contacted, Nutrition Wing Director General Dr Baseer Achakzai said efforts were under way to include zinc in the list of essential drugs. Recommendations have been sent to senior officials and their response was awaited, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ