Mother administers ORS. Kenya.
Image credit: PATH/Tony Karumba

We want co-packaged ORS and Zinc to become the ‘go-to’ treatment for childhood diarrhoea in LMICs.

Since 2004 the recommended treatment (WHO/UNICEF) for childhood diarrhoea has been Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) together with Zinc.

More than 15 years on, less than 10% of diarrhoea cases in LMICs are treated with both ORS and Zinc and diarrhoea remains the second biggest infectious killer of under 5 children.

In 2018 the Diarrhoea Innovations Group gathered evidence to show that co-packaging ORS with Zinc greatly increased the chances of a child receiving both. This evidence was presented to the WHO and in 2019 the WHO changed their Model Essential Medicines List (EML) to recommend that ORS and Zinc be
co-packaged. The WHO EML now reads:

Amongst other things, ORSZCA wants to accelerate the cascade of this recommendation down to the national essential medicines lists in LMICs.

You can read our full strategy here.