Delay in releasing the National Essential Medicines List (EML) is holding states back from going ahead to procure amoxicillin dispersible tablets (AMX DT) to treat pneumonia, experts have said.
The disease currently kills nearly 146,000 children aged under five years annually.
The antibiotic amoxicillin dispersible tablets have been recommended in guidelines by the World Health Organisation, Unicef and Paediatric Association of Nigeria as first-line treatment for childhood pneumonia.
Government has delayed listing of the medicine on the EML, which has stalled since last year, Daily Trust learnt.
Without the launch and dissemination to states, governments cannot procure AMX DT for use in any health facility and are forbidden from procuring medicines outside the national EML or an individual EML based on the federal version.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), which leads efforts in pneumonia and diarrhoea treatment under the aegis of the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH), called on the federal ministry of health to implement the roll-out of AMX DX in full to enable use of the tablets, especially at community level where burden of pneumonia ravages children.
"Implementation of this recommendation is a vital step towards total eradication of childhood pneumonia death in Nigeria," said Remi Adeseun, programme director for strategy at PSN-PACFaH.
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