Liquid medicines impact climate change

Giving children liquid medicines is not only worse for their teeth and far more expensive, it is also much worse for the environment.

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists are campaigning to urge parents to teach children as young as three to take solid dosage using

And LJMU’s renowned School of Pharmacy, working with KidzMed is at the forefront of the work, this week earning a sustainable healthcare prize (The project received the sustainable healthcare in Newcastle prize at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Trust Celebrating in Excellence awards).

Dr Alice McCloskey, Associate Professor of Pharmacy, works with KidzMed in the northeast and is planning to extend it to our region  - the north west – this winter, designing behaviour interventions among professionals and the public to reduce liquid amoxicillin prescribing.

Greenhouse emissions

“Prescribing the liquid of this antibiotic produces three times more carbon as the capsule equivalent, so it is important that practitioners and parents understand the impact.

The award-winning pilot scheme has resulted in a reduction in amoxicillin liquid prescriptions by 23%, halving prescribing costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 11kgCo2e (15%).  

She adds; “Aside from helping the planet, switching patients to solid oral dosage forms improves medication adherence and reduces the likelihood of antibiotic courses not being finished therefore antimicrobial resistance.” 

The project also teaches adults how to swallow pills correctly, works with pharma companies, and global charities such as Médecins Sans Frontières.

LJMU research into the carbon footprint of packaging of amoxicillin liquid and capsules was part of the sustainability pop up at EUREKA Science + Discover Centre on the Wirral in 2024.