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Partnering with the Pharmaceutical Industry to Ensure Access to Pediatric Zinc for Diarrhea Treatment in Pakistan: Results and Lessons Learned

There are more than two million reported cases of diarrhea in children under five each year with 14 percent of deaths among children under five due to diarrhea-related causes. In January 2009, the USAID Mission to Pakistan invited the Social Marketing Plus for Diarrheal Disease Control: Point-of-Use Disinfection and Zinc Treatment (POUZN) Project to conduct an assessment of the role of the private sector in diarrhea treatment and to present the options for supporting private sector firms in their efforts to market and distribute pediatric zinc for diarrhea treatment through both commercial channels and community distribution systems. Based on that assessment, the POUZN project developed a program in Pakistan to support local manufactures of pediatric zinc products with mass media generic advertising and training for providers. The following lessons were learned: a)collaboration with the private pharmaceutical sector is a viable and cost effective approach to ensure a sustainable and competitively priced supply of zinc, b) exposure to benefits of zinc use messages is essential to create awareness of and demand for zinc products, and c) caregiver complaince with the 10 day zinc regimen continues to be a major behavioral challenge.