UNICEF and WHO have released the second edition of ‘Sources and Prices of Selected Medicines for Children’. It offers information on the availability and price of 240 drug items in 612 different paediatric formulations selected from the ‘WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children’, including therapeutic food, and vitamin and mineral supplements, to treat major childhood illnesses and disease.

75% of the formulations included are available for purchase from one or more manufacturers. For the remaining 25%, sourcing remains a challenge. The number of sources is especially limited for the paediatric treatment of diarrhoea and HIV/AIDS, and as well as child-specific medicines to treat tropical infections endemic in Africa and Asia.

WHO also emphasises that wherever possible, medicines for children should be provided as flexible, solid, oral dosage forms that can be administered in a liquid when it is given to the sick child. Liquid formulations are more expensive to purchase compared with dispersible tablets and are also more costly to store, package, and transport safely.

For more information please use the following link:
http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/sources_prices/en/index.html