Singhal Shubha, Dutta Siddhartha, Thakker Zalak, Shah Rima
Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rajkot, IND.
Attending Pediatrician, Bassett Healthcare Network, Cooperstown, USA.
Cureus. 2023 Feb 22;15(2):e35340. doi: 10.7759/cureus.35340. eCollection 2023 Feb.
The majority of the under five mortality rate (U5MR) in India were due to treatable causes and could have been prevented by providing quality medicines. Availability and affordability of medicine can be improved by the introduction of essential medicine concepts.
The current study was carried out to compare the latest edition of the WHO essential medicine list for children (EMLc) with that of Indian EMLc to determine the need to update the Indian EMLc.
A descriptive observational study was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology of a tertiary care hospital. The latest edition of WHO EMLc (8) was compared with the latest edition of Indian EMLc (1) in terms of inclusion of categories or subcategories, the number of medicines in each category or subcategories, medicines which are present in WHO EMLc but missing in Indian EMLc and vice versa.
In total 134 medicines are present in Indian EMLc as compared to 350 medicines in WHO EMLc. The important categories which are completely missing in Indian EMLc are medicines for reproductive health and perinatal care, peritoneal dialysis solution, medicines for mental and behavioral disorders, and medicines for diseases of joints. The important medicines which are not included in Indian EMLc are bedaquilline, delaminid, cefixime, piperacillin+tazobactum, vancomycin, acyclovir, azathioprine, cisplatin, and filgrastim. Important vaccines including rotavirus, cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid vaccine are not mentioned in Indian EMLc.
There is an urgent need to update the Indian EMLc in order to promote access to pediatric medicine and facilitate the rational use of medicines.
印度五岁以下儿童死亡率（U5MR）的大部分是由可治疗的原因导致的，通过提供优质药品本可预防。引入基本药物概念可提高药品的可及性和可负担性。
开展本研究以比较世界卫生组织儿童基本药物清单（EMLc）的最新版本与印度EMLc，以确定更新印度EMLc的必要性。
在一家三级护理医院的药理系开展了一项描述性观察研究。将世界卫生组织EMLc的最新版本（第8版）与印度EMLc的最新版本（第1版）在类别或子类别的纳入情况、每个类别或子类别中的药物数量、在世界卫生组织EMLc中存在但在印度EMLc中缺失的药物以及反之亦然的药物方面进行了比较。
印度EMLc中共有134种药物，而世界卫生组织EMLc中有350种药物。印度EMLc中完全缺失的重要类别是生殖健康和围产期护理药物、腹膜透析液、精神和行为障碍药物以及关节疾病药物。印度EMLc中未包括的重要药物有贝达喹啉、地拉米定、头孢克肟、哌拉西林+他唑巴坦、万古霉素、阿昔洛韦、硫唑嘌呤、顺铂和非格司亭。印度EMLc中未提及包括轮状病毒、霍乱、肝炎和伤寒疫苗在内的重要疫苗。
迫切需要更新印度EMLc，以促进儿科药物的可及性并促进合理用药。
