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Essential Medicines for Children

K Hoppu1

  • 1Poison Information Centre, Children's Hospital, and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
|February 10, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Children

Area of Science:

  • Global Health
  • Pediatric Medicine
  • Health Equity

Background:

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Essential Medicines as critical for public healthcare.
  • Access to essential medicines is a key component of the right to health.
  • Equitable access requires that children receive appropriate, available, affordable, and quality essential medicines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the critical gap in the availability of essential medicines for children.
  • To advocate for improved access to pediatric essential medicines.

Main Methods:

  • This study is a review of existing literature and WHO guidelines on essential medicines.
  • Analysis of global health policies and pediatric medicine accessibility.

Main Results:

  • Essential medicines for children are frequently unavailable or inaccessible.
  • Significant disparities exist in the availability of pediatric-formulated essential medicines.

Conclusions:

  • Children's access to essential medicines is often compromised, violating principles of health equity.
  • Urgent action is needed to ensure children globally have access to necessary medicines.

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