New global children's medicine campaign launched

The global effort to improve children's access to medicines specifically tailored towards their needs has received a boost with the launch of a new campaign to promote their research and development.

Led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the initiative will call for medicines such as antibiotics and pain medication to be better targeted towards children's needs.

It also advocates increased research and development of combination treatments for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, along with child therapy for a number of tropical diseases.

In a statement, Dr Margaret Chan, WHO secretary general, said: "The gap between the availability and the need for child-appropriate medicines touches wealthy as well as poor countries."

"As we strive for equitable access to scientific progress in health, children must be one of our top priorities," she added.

According to figures provided by the organisation, every year pneumonia causes two million deaths among children aged under five, while HIV kills 330,000 under-15s annually.

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