Project profile — Shaping Local Markets for Diarrhea Treatment

• Nigeria (100.00%)

• Health, General: Health policy and administrative management (12110) (10.00%)
• Infectious disease control:
Infectious disease control (12250) (45.00%)
Health education (12261) (45.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)

This project aims to reduce the number of children under the age of five who are dying from diarrhea in five Nigerian states. This project works closely with communities, the Government of Nigeria, and the private sector to build a sustainable, local market for oral rehydration salts and zinc - the recommended treatment for diarrhea. Combined, these two simple, highly effective, and affordable treatments can reduce the likelihood of diarrhea deaths in young children by up to 93%. The project works to encourage investment by Nigerian pharmaceutical importers and manufacturers to ensure a better supply of these low-cost treatments in Nigeria, and better distribution of the treatments in clinics and private shops in hard-to-reach areas. This innovative, private-sector oriented project, also seeks to educate caregivers and health workers in the use of oral rehydration salts and zinc to effectively and safely treat diarrhea in children. The project aims to increase the use of these life-saving treatments - from less than 1% currently to over 50% by 2017 - to reach an estimated 4.2 million children.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: increased demand for oral rehydration salts and zinc among caregivers and health providers in five focal states; increased supply by manufacturers and importers of affordable, high-quality oral rehydration salts and zinc in five focal states; expanded distribution of oral rehydration salts and zinc to clinics and private shops in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2017) include: (1) an increase in the percentage of children under the age of five who received oral rehydration solution and zinc (ORS/zinc) to treat diarrhea from a baseline of 6% to 37%, which saved the lives of an estimated 12,359 children from 2014 to 2017 in the five targeted states of Nigeria: Bauchi, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger and Cross River; (2) an improved supply chain of ORS/zinc led to a reduction in the market price of ORS/zinc treatments by 68%; and (3) more than 35,000 public and private sector providers were trained on the benefits of ORS/zinc to treat children with diarrhea in all five focal states.

• Proactive disclosure