Pinch of salt
Apathy towards neglected diseases that affect children most can be seen with the research done on oral rehydration salts (ORS). In 1975, the WHO and UNICEF agreed to promote a single, orally administered solution of ORS to prevent dehydration caused by diarrhoea. However, the ideal composition of this solution has been a bone of controversy for many years. Standard ORS has caused several deaths mainly in children because of its high salt concentration. The new ORS has reduced osmolarity or concentration of salts and has proved to be more effective in children and adults with cholera.
Overall a total of 14,000 deaths per million episode of diarrhoea could have been avoided had the reduced osmolarity ORS solution been produced earlier. This would have also resulted in cost savings of US $500 per death, or US $7.1 million per million episodes. Though many donors and organisations like WHO claim to have been working towards a more effective ORS solution, in reality, most of the research was intermittent and lacked political will.