Dear CHIFA colleagues,
While building the dose tables for PediBot I ran into something I keep thinking about. Paracetamol "drops" in Ethiopia are usually 100 mg per 5 ml, so 20 mg/ml. In Spain, Portugal or India the drops are 100 mg per ml, five times stronger. Same word on the box, same dropper, and a parent who measures the amount they are used to from home gives either a fifth of the
dose or five times the dose.
Our calculator only knew the European bottle at first, which is how I found it. Now it asks for the strength on the label before giving any amount.
I'd love to hear from people who work with families who have moved between countries, or who bring medicines from home. Have you seen mix-ups like this? Are there other medicines where the same name hides a very different strength?
(For transparency: PediBot is my project, a free site that answers parents from official guidance in eight languages, https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pedibot.xyz/ r%3Dchifa&source=gmail&ust=1791875526656000&sa=E)
Best wishes,
Nicolas Beca
Seville, Spain
CHIFA profile:
Nicolas is an Architect with Pedibot, Spain. pedibot.aiATgmail.com