Oral Rehydration Salts and an Overview of UNICEFs Capabilities within the Current System - Assignment Example

Section/# ORS and An Overview of UNICEF’s Capabilities, Mission, and Strength within the Current System Introduction: As a function of the core mission of UNICEF, the organization is perennially on the lookout for treatments and means which can serve to promote global health and reduce the incidence of disease within the world. One of the ways that global health can be readily improved is by reducing the number of deaths that occur as a result of diarrhea and dehydration each and every year. Conservative estimates state that around 1.8 million individuals die annually as a result of these compound killers. Rather than seeking to treat the myriad of illnesses that contribute to diarrhea and/or dehydration, the better approach would be to find a way to treat the symptoms to greatly reduce the risk that death or serious injury to the patient will occur. Due to the high number of shareholders that any and all UNICEF programs ultimately reach, a prime determinate that is always engaged is the necessity to keep costs down per patient and per treatment. As a function of this, oral rehydration salts have proven to be an effective means of countering the negative effects of diarrhea and the dehydration and death that it can ultimately cause. Furthermore, the utilization of oral rehydration salts (ORS) is one of the most cost effective means of treatment that exists. In such a way, the reader can and should understand that ORS, when purchased and applied to affected communities in bulk can cost but a few dollars per application. This determinant is extremely important as it must be considered within the context of how UNICEF divides and utilizes a limited budget that has many other health goals that are clamoring for attention. As a function of the needs that are represented within the environment, the realities of the marketplace, the overall cost of application of such a means of treatment, and the positioning that such a utilization would infer, this analysis will seek to draw an inference based upon these determinants. Oral rehydration salts (ORS) are one of the few medical treatments that have changed little since their introduction. Preliminary application of ORS has been traced as far back as the year 1500 BC in India. However, the use and application of ORS within the current era has continued to develop as medical science and an understanding how the body responds to dehydration treatments has grown. According to the recent formula released by UNICEF, ORS can and should consist of the following: sodium chloride, anhydrous glucose, potassium chloride, trisodium citrate, and dehydrate. What is unique about each of these ingredients is the fact that they are readily available and of an extremely low cost in almost each and every nation or state that they might be utilized within. This represents an extreme advantage for such a treatment due to the fact that further application and support of such an endeavor will meant that UNICEF will be able to accomplish a great deal of good with limited investment. Such opportunities fit perfectly into the underlying goals and mission that UNICEF seeks to support. Although there are many world health issues that UNICEF integrates with and seeks to provide amelioration for, this particular issue is one that a relatively low investment could seek to fully cover (Walker et al, 2009). Furthermore, as a function of the low cost of treatment that this remediation represents, there will be few supply and demand issues that will impact negatively on the overall availability or cost. This is not to say that swings in the global pharmaceutical market will not affect ORS and its application; however, it is safe to assume that as a function of the simplicity of the formula which has been elaborated upon that any demand or supply swings will have a minimal affect on the pricing structure that will be realized within the market (About the Commission, 2011). An Overview of the Commodity Market Furthermore, as has been briefly elaborated upon within the preceding analysis, the positioning of UNICEF with regards to this particular treatment and its integration within the markets that it operates should necessarily center upon providing the most remediation of death and dehydration and focusing the application of such treatments and the purchase of raw material and pharmaceuticals targeted upon the areas that experience the highest ratio of mortality from these issues. Such an approach has of course been within the fundamental framework of the way in which UNICEF has sought to ameliorate global issues of health since its very inception. Naturally, regardless of the way in which such a program of remediation is engaged with or the particular logistics that are employed, there will be populations that will not receive the full complement of the assistance that they will require to provide these treatments to their shareholders (WHO Drug Information, 2013). It is due to this fact that a thorough and exhaustive analysis of the issues should be engaged upon so that the target communities within the world can be helped. Positioning One additional point of interest that should be included in any thorough analysis of ORS and their application throughout the world is the means whereby UNICEF seeks to provide basic direct assistance to the affected population (UNICEF, 2011). Whereas UNICEF has traditionally been viewed as an entity that would seek to provide assistance by means of educational training to the individual and/or healthcare provider as well as a level of assistance with the purchase of pharmaceuticals and other testing supplies, with regards to ORS, UNICEF has dedicated a substantial effort to educating the individual with regards to how they can create a basic ORS solution to be used at home in the event that the supplies or access to them are not readily available (Gul et al, 2010). This focus is unique as compared with many other of the specialty areas that UNICEF operates within due to the fact that it is basic enough that even a semi literate and otherwise medically uneducated person will have the tools at their disposal to create such a solution and apply it appropriately. Such a first aid focus has doubtless helped to lower the total number of deaths to dehydration within the past several years by around 700,000 per year. It is further safe to assume that the supply and demand curves for the ORS will be fairly inelastic due to the nature of disease that is currently manifested within the developing world. As a function of this, having determinate and reliable delivery points for the commodities which will be utilized in the creation and distribution networks of the ORS is vitally important in ensuring that the means of remediation of disease are met with a solid supply network capable of meeting the needs of all shareholders and affected communities. The end consumer will be most benefitted by a robust supply network that is unaffected by global swings in supply shifts. Although commodities security could play a role in ameliorating such a risk, the fact that the ingredients are so readily available precludes the need to engage with such a secondary form of commodity assurance. As a function of specializing in the preceding areas of focus which have been enumerated upon, it is the hope of this report that such a course of action can help to significantly reduce the incidence of death as a result of diarrhea and dehydration that are exhibited in some of the poorest and least developed regions around the globe. Furthermore, when the financial constraints that are naturally exhibited upon UNICEF mean that it cannot exert full influence over each and every target area that it would otherwise like to, the availability of the knowledge of how the shareholder can themselves create such an ORS is of vital importance. Moreover, the cost that the ORS portends is such that UNICEF can seek to maximize the impact upon public health while at the same time minimizing the costs that the requisite components of the ORS require. Ultimately, this provides the perfect opportunity in that UNICEF can seek to ameliorate the greatest amount of physical suffering while at the same time providing low cost remediation to a very high number of shareholders around the globe. From the preceding analysis, it is the hope of this author that the reader can infer as to why inclusion of ORS and a further emphasis on its use, application, and integration into UNICEF’s outreach can have a massively positive benefit within the model of global health. References About the Commission. (2011, January 12). Every Woman Every Child. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.everywomaneverychild.org/resources/un-commission-on-life-saving-commodities/about Gul, R., Tariq, M., Zeb, A., & Safeer, M. (2011). PREVALENCE OF DIARRHOEA AND USE OF ORAL REHYDRATION SALT IN CHILDREN OF RURAL AND URBAN AREAS OF PESHAWAR. JPMI: Journal Of Postgraduate Medical Institute, 25(1), 40-43. UNICEF (2011, April 11). UNICEF - Supplies and Logistics - Supply Annual Report 2011. UNICEF - UNICEF Home. Retrieved March 11, 2013, from http://www.unicef.org/supply/index_report.html Walker, C., Fontaine, O., Young, M., & Black, R. (2009). Zinc and low osmolarity oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea: a renewed call to action. Bulletin Of The World Health Organization, 87(10), 780-786. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.08.058990 WHO Drug Information Vol. 16, No. 2, 2002: Current Topics: New formula oral rehydration salts. (2012, April 22). World Health Organization. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4950e/2.4.html#Js4950e.2.4 Read More