Improving Uptake of Amoxicillin and Gentamicin for Newborn and Child Health Health

Each year, more than 700,000 children under the age of five - 90% of them in 40 low- and middle-income countries - die from pneumonia and other treatable respiratory infections. Also, nearly 7 million babies under two months experience possible serious bacterial infections. Virtually all of these children could be effectively treated with oral amoxicillin in pediatric formulations or with injectable gentamicin, two widely available, inexpensive medicines that can save children’s lives. Collaborating together, USAID, UNICEF, Child Health Task Force, USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM), Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program, and Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM +) Program, with input from other partners have issued a Call to Action, which prioritizes four bottlenecks and lists clear action steps that countries can take now. The bottlenecks are poor quantification of need, insufficient financing, lack of quality assurance, and inappropriate use. The Call to Action describes the critical roles of country stakeholders, donors, implementing partners, and civil society organizations in driving immediate, concrete actions to improve access to and appropriate use of amoxicillin and gentamicin for childhood pneumonia and newborn infections. This webinar launched the Call to Action paper and discussed how to take action to intervene at the country level. The Call to Action paper can be found on the website in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.