30 Priority Medications For Mothers And Children Worldwide

For the first time in history, the World Health Organization has compiled a list of the top 30 medicines that can be used to save mothers and children. The WHO pinpoints the diseases that health experts see as the most globally burdensome for women and children, and lists the medicines that pharmacies and hospitals should stock.

"In essence, these are the 30 medicines that should be available in every health facility where sick mothers and children seek care," said WHO spokeswoman Olivia Lawe-Davies.

According to the WHO, every day more than 1,000 women die from complications stemming from pregnancy and childbirth. And more than half of them suffer from severe post-partum bleeding that could be stopped with a simple injection of oxytocin.

Every year, more than 8 million children under the age of 5, most in developing countries, die from things like pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria -- causes that are entirely treatable when the correct medicines are available.

The idea behind the list, Lawe-Davies explained, is to help poor countries prioritize which drugs can make the biggest impact. Experts conducted surveys in places like Africa and found that in 14 countries, essential children's medications were available in less than half of the pharmacies and drug stores.

"We intend [for the list] to help countries make the best use of limited resources, by buying drugs that will save the most lives," said Lawe-Davies. "We're also aiming to encourage manufacturers to produce the medicines that are the most urgently needed in the right dosages and formulations."

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Most HIV infections in children, of which the WHO estimates there were more than 2 million in 2008, occur from mother to child. Without treatment, it says, approximately half of the infected infants will die by the age of two. Standard regimen for first-line anti-retroviral treatment: 1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor plus two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors such as the fixed dose combination of lamivudine + nevirapine + zidovudine - tablet 30 mg + 50 mg + 60 mg; 150 mg+ 200 mg + 300 mg

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Most HIV infections in children, of which the WHO estimates there were more than 2 million in 2008, occur from mother to child. Without treatment, it says, approximately half of the infected infants will die by the age of two.

Standard regimen for first-line anti-retroviral treatment: 1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor plus two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors such as the fixed dose combination of lamivudine + nevirapine + zidovudine - tablet 30 mg + 50 mg + 60 mg; 150 mg+ 200 mg + 300 mg

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