Challenges in pediatric science
BY ZEMENE YOHANNES The Ethiopian Herald March,1,2013 “It’s a 'riddle' that has frustrated pediatricians for decades,” wrote one of the science journalists while investigating the least known and the hidden reality about child medicine. When children are ill and need curing drugs, it would not be easy for physicians to order drugs as few medicines are approved globally for use. Handfuls of recent studies including a report by the US government health institute are convinced the fact that most doctors are forced to prescribe drugs for children without adequate data, risking the children for overdose with a high possibility to leave its long term side effects. “The adage that a child is not just a small adult is true: you can’t simply scale-down a dose of a drug from adults and expect it to behave identically in a small child,” says Peter Adamson, a pediatrician and pharmacologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelph