Sandoz joins forces with UN to combat leading cause of child mortality worldwide

Sandoz announced a long-term commitment to help prevent the deaths of millions of children worldwide by supplying a key antibiotic formulation, as part of the United Nation’s new Every Newborn Action Plan. The commitment involves providing long-term global supplies of amoxicillin 250 mg dispersible tablets (DT) to developing countries via the UN Commission for Lifesaving Commodities.

This was announced on the same day the UN launched the Every Newborn Action Plan in Johannesburg, South Africa, the world’s first comprehensive plan to eliminate preventable deaths of newborn and stillborn babies. More than five million children under five are estimated to die worldwide every year, mainly in Africa and Asia, and nearly a quarter of those deaths are due to pneumonia alone, making it the single largest killer in that age range.

This commitment continues a long history of Novartis supporting child health. As part of the malaria initiative, Novartis and partners developed the first artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) specifically designed for children. Since 2009, more than 200 million paediatric anti-malarial treatments have been delivered without profit to 40 countries. The Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development supports the WHO and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in developing e-learning tools to scale-up maternal and child health training for health workers. Novartis Social Ventures, business models that bring access to healthcare, medicine and health education to families in rural areas of Asia and Africa, focus on maternal and child health. Learn more by visiting Novartis.com.

EP News Bureau–Mumbai