Dear E-Druggers,
On behalf on the international group that authored them under the lead of Brandon Maser, I would like to share two papers just published in the Lancet Child Adolescent Health, about the important but neglected problem of access to essential controlled medicines for children.
Essential controlled medicines, such as opioids for pain management, benzodiazepines and phenobarbital, and others, are essential across paediatric care, for multiple conditions that include severe pain, palliative care, surgery and anaesthesia, cancer pain, seizure disorders, and other neurological and mental health conditions, etc. When these medicines are missing, children face avoidable suffering, compromised development and even death.
We know that the lack of access to medicines generally hits children even more than adults, due to lack of R&D, lack of adequate formulation, lack of prioritization etc. When it comes to poor access to controlled substances for children, there is an even broader and complex combination of interconnected reasons, going from health system weaknesses to stigma and misconceptions. If access is constraint or absent (and this is often the case, particularly in low- and middle-income countries) prescribers and families are pushed toward substandard alternatives, such as recourse to inadequate products, or procurement on informal markets, with higher risks of poor quality and harm.
The first paper reviews the scope, determinants and consequences of lack of access. It is available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352464225003748?dgcid=coauthor .
The second paper shows where health and pharmaceutical system fails to care for children in need of controlled medicines; it highlights key knowledge gaps; and it provides a functional framework to help stakeholders set priorities and translate commitments into care. It is available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235246422500375X?dgcid=coauthor
Children in need of controlled medicines remain largely invisible and neglected, and it is time to prioritise then in research and in health system decision-making.
With best regards,