Diarrhoea is the second leading cause of death among children under five
globally. Nearly one in five child deaths – about 1.5 million each year – is
due to diarrhoea. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and
measles combined. Today, only 39 per cent of children with diarrhoea in
developing countries receive the recommended treatment, and limited trend
data suggest that there has been little progress since 2000.
The objective of this WHO/UNICEF report is to focus attention on the
prevention and management of diarrhoeal diseases as central to improving
child survival. It examines the latest available information on the burden
and distribution of childhood diarrhoea. It also analyses how well countries
are doing in making available key interventions proven to reduce its toll.
Most importantly, it lays out a new strategy for diarrhoea control, one that
is based on interventions drawn from different sectors that have
demonstrated potential to save children's lives. It sets out a 7-point plan
that includes a treatment package to reduce childhood diarrhoea deaths, as
well as a prevention package to make a lasting reduction in the diarrhoea
burden in the medium to long term.
The report highlights the proven diarrhoeal disease prevention and treatment solutions already available today. Many children in the developing world
cannot access urgent medical care for severe illnesses, making prevention methods—including improved hygiene, sanitation, safe drinking water,
exclusive breastfeeding, and vaccines preventing rotavirus—critical components of diarrhoeal disease control. When diarrhoea occurs, it can be
effectively treated with simple solutions, including oral rehydration therapy/oral rehydration solution, zinc and other micronutrients, and continued feeding.
Read more
"Diarrhea is the world’s most effective weapon of mass destruction." —
Rose George,
journalist and author of The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters,
an eye-opening report on the shocking realities of the world's sanitation crisis.
Babies who are breastfed are generally healthier and achieve optimal growth and development compared to those who are fed formula milk.
If the vast majority of babies were exclusively fed breastmilk in their
first six months of life – meaning only breastmilk and no other liquids or
solids, not even water – it is estimated that the lives of at least 1.2
million children would be saved every year. If children continue to be
breastfed up to two years and beyond, the health and development of millions
of children would be greatly improved.more >>
The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding provide a supportive pathway
enabling women to achieve their breastfeeding intentions and guiding the
training of healthcare workers in breastfeeding support. Objectives:
Inform people everywhere of the risks of artificial feeding, and the role of
breastfeeding for children’s development and lifelong health and the health
of mothers. Enable mothers to enjoy full support for breastfeeding in health
care systems and beyond.
Despite substantial gains with effective interventions in the 1980s and 1990s, severe dehydration due to diarrhea continues to threaten too many
children’s lives, particularly in the developing world. Simple, available, and proven tools promise dramatic reductions in diarrhea-related illness and
deaths worldwide. In addition to established interventions that include oral rehydration therapy, exclusive breastfeeding, and improved hygiene, new
tools like zinc and vaccines bring new opportunities to re-invigorate interest and catalyze investments in diarrheal disease control.
Let’s Talk About It Diarrhea is the second leading killer of children around the world
Dirty drinking water, poor sanitation, and rotavirus infection can lead to diarrhea, which is the second leading killer of
children around the world. If we talk about diarrhea, we can defeat it. Learn how you can help! Watch the video and visit
www.defeatdd.org for more information.
There is an 11-fold increase in the risk of infants dying from
diarrhoea when they are not exclusively breastfed in their first six months of life.
Malnutrition, often caused by inadequate infant feeding practices, can
result in a five-to-ten-fold increase in a child's risk of death from
diarrhea. By promoting and supporting good infant feeding practices at all
times, including during and after illness, we are working together with
several organizations to prevent malnutrition and reduce diarrheal disease.
With more resources and effective implementation of available health, water and sanitation solutions, we can save millions of children right now.
That diarrhoea remains a leading cause of death among children around the world exemplifies the urgency of reinvigorating efforts to improve child
health and human development.
PATH and the US Coalition for Child Survival are partnering on a Call to Action urging international donors and policymakers, the private sector, and
national leaders to invest more funding and political will in solutions to mitigate deaths and illnesses from diarrhoeal disease. Support from the
health, water and sanitation, development, and environmental sectors underscores that success will take a coordinated and cross-sectoral effort
across these disciplines. more >>
The citizens of Haiti are currently dealing with devastation and suffering that few of us can even imagine.
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 12, 2010, has devastated the city and surrounding areas.
The earthquake has reduced large parts of the the country's capitol to rubble and devastated their already poor infrastructure making the task of
delivering aid extremely difficult.
Official estimates from the region say that approximately 3 million people — one third of the population of Haiti — have been affected by this
disaster and that an estimated 200,000 people may have died as a result of the earthquake. Port-au-Prince's 3 largest medical centers have been devastated.
As medical relief personnel pour in, use
Medscape's Alert Center to find out what you can do to help, learn how the
situation is progressing, and discuss the situation with your colleagues.
Seeking information about relatives in Haiti: +1 (888) 407-4747
Diarrhoea causes dehydration.
Children are more likely than adults to die from diarrhoea because they
become dehydrated more quickly. Diarrhoea is also a major cause of child malnutrition.
2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe
drinking water, inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene and overcrowding. 90% are children under 5, mostly in developing countries. Undernutrition
is the underlying cause of a substantial proportion of all child deaths. Infants who are fed only breastmilk during the first 6 months seldom get
diarrhoea. At six months, in addition to breastmilk, complementary foods with increased feeding frequency and changes in food consistency,
quantity, and diversity as the child ages.
Families and communities are working together, with support from governments,
states, corporations and non-governmental organizations, to prevent the
conditions that cause diarrhoea and thereby rapidly reducing child mortality.
On this site::
Clear, practical advice on preventing and treating diarrhoeal diseases. Guidelines from medical authorities on diagnosis, treatment,
symptoms, causes and risk factors, tests, training tips, feedback from the field, alternative medicine and much more for patients and health professionals.
Did you know?
Oral rehydration therapy and continued feeding is a life-saving treatment, which only 39 per cent of children with diarrhoea in developing countries receive. Limited data show little progress since 2000.
Zinc tablets are still largely unavailable in most developing countries, although their effectiveness in reducing the severity and duration of diarrhoea episodes is well known.
Immunization against rotavirus, which results in an estimated 40 per cent of hospital admissions due to diarrhoea among children under five, is urgently needed worldwide, especially in Africa and Asia.
Safe water, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene are too often forgotten foundations of good health. Handwashing with soap alone could potentially reduce the number of diarrhoea cases by over 40 per cent.
Breastfeeding is critical to both the prevention and treatment of diarrhoea. Infants who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and continue to be breastfed until two years of age and beyond develop fewer infections and have less severe illnesses, including diarrhoea.
Vitamin A supplementation has been shown to significantly reduce child deaths, mostly from diarrhoea and measles.
Can One Pill Tame the Illness No One Wants to Talk About?
It is hard to grasp the impact diarrhea has on people's lives across Africa and Asia. The disease kills more children than either malaria or AIDS,
stunts growth, and forces millions — adults and children alike — to spend weeks at a time off work or school,
which hits both a country's economy and its citizens' chances of a better future.
Taming a Devastating Illness with a Simple PillSee pictures of of how zinc is saving lives in Mali. Zinc tablets help African communities fight diarrhea, a scourge that claims the lives of an astonishing 1.6 million children every year
The proportion of under-nourished children under five years of age declined from 27% in 1990 to 20% in 2005.
Some 27% fewer children died before their fifth birthday in 2007 than in 1990.
Maternal mortality has barely changed since 1990.
One third of 9.7 million people in developing countries who need treatment for HIV/AIDS were receiving it in 2007.
MDG target for reducing the incidence of tuberculosis was met globally in 2004.
27 countries reported a reduction of up to 50% in the number of malaria cases between 1990 and 2006.
The number of people with access to safe drinking-water rose from 4.1 billion in 1990 to 5.7 billion in 2006. About 1.1 billion people in developing regions gained access to improved sanitation in the same period.
HETV works within the existing health framework of developing countries to establish and promote health educational programs that will provide rapid
and long-term capacity-building to improve health and quality of life, and will give mothers and communities more control over their health status.
Partnered with national and state governments, we work to assist in educating mothers and children, teachers and students, doctors and village
health workers, and a variety of community leaders, in the targeted areas of health, water, hygiene, and sanitation.
Maharashtra Plan 2005-2010 |
Programmes
Video |
10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding |
Scientific Overview |
Recommendations & Vision |
Reviews
UNICEF, WHO and WABA along with the scientific community strongly recommend initiating breastfeeding within half an hour of birth.
Evidence shows that early initiation can prevent 22% of all deaths among babies below one month in developing countries. Every newborn, when
placed on the mother’s abdomen, has ability to find its mother’s breast all on its own and to decide when to take the first breastfeed. This is
known as the ‘Breast Crawl’. [more]
The fight against persistent underweight, stunting and wasting among children in developing countries is based on appropriate
maternal, infant and young child feeding practices including micronutrient deficiencies prevention and control. However, wasted
children are those at immediate risk of dying and will need timely detection and correct management for their survival.
More than half of all child deaths are associated with malnutrition, which weakens the body's resistance to illness. Poor diet,
frequent illness, and inadequate or inattentive care of young children can lead to malnutrition. Of the 6.6 million deaths among children aged 28 days to five years:
1.7 million (26%) are caused by diarrhoea. 1 million (61%) of these deaths are due to the presence of undernutrition.
What is needed: Enough food and the right kinds of food, Nutritional needs of girls and women, Nutritional needs of young children,
Protecting children from infections, Quality care when children fall ill, prevention of Micronutrient deficiencies.
Diarrhea kills more young children around the world than malaria, AIDS and TB combined. Yet a simple and
inexpensive treatment can prevent many of those deaths. Why isn't it more widely used?
A Simple Solution
In the West, it's an inconvenience, but, in the developing world, it can be a death sentence. It kills millions of children every
year, yet the treatment is a simple mixture of salt, sugar and water. So why isn't more being done to fight diarrhea?
Surviving Diarrhea
Most deaths from diarrhea can be prevented by giving the victim oral rehydration. A guide to how it works
Authors: Gerlin, Andrea, Number of pages: 8, Publication date: 2006, Languages: English
Overview
In this article, published in Time Magazine in October 2006, the author
Andrea Gerlin, investigates the reasons why diarrhoea still kills 1.9
million children every year, and why Oral Rehydration Solution is not more
widely used throughout the world.
Prevent and Treat |
Treatment Plans
Dehydration caused by diarrhoea is one of the biggest single killers of children in the modern world and diarrhoea itself is one of the major causes of nutritional loss and poor growth.
[more]
"The discovery that sodium transport and glucose transport are coupled in
the small intestine so that glucose accelerates absorption of solute and water (is) potentially
the most important medical advance this century."
The Lancet - British Scientific Journal - 5th August, 1978 [more]
Home
Made | Packaged
Most often, diarrhoea kills a child by dehydration, which means that too much liquid has been drained out of the child's body. To replace the
liquid being lost it is essential to give the child extra drinks as soon as diarrhoea starts.
Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) is the
cheap, simple and effective way to treat dehydration caused by diarrhoea.
[more]
Facts |
Frequently Asked Questions |
HIV
During the first 6 months of life, infants should be exclusively breastfed. This means that the healthy baby should receive breastmilk and
no other fluids, such as water, teas, juice, cereal drinks, animal milk or formula. Exclusively breastfed babies are much less likely to get
diarrhoea or to die from it than are babies who are not breastfed or are partially breastfed. [more]
Q & A |
Technical FAQs
Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) has been the cornerstone of diarrheal disease control since 1970s. Recently, the ORS formulation was
revised by reducing the sodium and glucose content. This new, low-osmolarity ORS, improves the efficacy of ORS, reduces the need for unscheduled
intravenous infusions, lowers stool volume, and causes less vomiting compared with standard ORS.
[more]
ORS and Zinc: Treatment of diarrhoea is now more effective
Recent studies suggest that a 10- to 14-day therapy of zinc treatment can considerably reduce the duration and severity of diarrhoeal episodes,
decrease stool output, and lessen the need for hospitalization. Zinc may
also prevent future diarrhoea episodes for up to three months. [more]
Key Facts
| Promise and Potential
Worldwide, almost every child will have at least one rotavirus infection before he or she is five years old. The virus is so
contagious and resilient that providing clean water and promoting proper hygiene do not significantly reduce incidence, which is nearly the same in
industrialized and developing countries. Additionally, because rotavirus
usually causes profuse vomiting, ORS/ORT is difficult to administer. [more]
Providing clean water for drinking and food preparation, teaching children
and adults to wash their hands properly are some of the most important things governments and families can
do to protect health. These proven interventions have already made a world
of difference for millions and millions of people. [more]
The scientific rationale for ORT, and for continued feeding during
diarrhoea, has been established beyond doubt. The challenge now is to place that knowledge in the hands of parents so
that they themselves can protect their children against the dehydration and malnutrition caused by childhood's most common disease.
A Simple Solution A Programme to curb the effects of diarrhoea / diarrhea in infants and young children
198 slides
Facts for Life
The handbook, Facts for Life, provides vital messages and information for mothers, fathers, other family members and caregivers and communities to use in changing behaviours and practices that can save and protect the lives of children and help them grow and develop to their full potential.
Water Facts
Waterborne diseases (the consequence of a combination of lack of clean water supply and inadequate sanitation) cost the Indian economy 73 million working days a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the more commonly asked questions about Diarrhoea, Dehydration, Oral Rehydration Salts - Home Prepared and Packets, and Oral Rehydration Therapy.
All information on Rehydration Project's web site is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, kindly consult your doctor.
Health Education to Villages
Initiation of Breastfeeding by Breast Crawl
Dehydration
Rehydration
Oral Rehydration Solutions
Breastfeeding
Low-Osmolarity ORS
Zinc Supplementation
Rotavirus Disease & Vaccines
Hygiene, Hand-washing and Clean Water
Health Professionals
