Childhood Diarrhea Kills 1.5 Million Infants Each Year

UN, WHO Issue 7-point Plan to Prevent and Treat Childhood Diarrhea

October 25, 2009

The United Nations is working together with the World Health Organization in an attempt to reduce the occurrence of child and infant deaths from preventable and treatable forms of childhood diarrhea. The two organizations released a report this month highlighting the severity of the health crisis.

According to the report, an estimated 1.5 million infants die each year from childhood diarrhea and/or dehydration associated with diarrhea. 39% of children who suffer from diarrhea do not receive the recommended medical treatment, said Ann Veneman, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). The result is that close to 18% of all deaths occurring in children under five years of age are from mostly preventable forms of diarrhea, typically caused by contaminated water and bacterial infections.

"It is a tragedy that diarrhea, which is little more than an inconvenience in the developed world, kills an estimated 1.5 million children each year," Ms. Veneman said in the news release. "Inexpensive and effective treatments for diarrhea exist, but in developing countries only 39% of children with diarrhea receive the recommended treatment."

On Thursday, UNICEF and the World Health Organization launched a seven-point plan to prevent and treat childhood diarrhea. The plan included such things as replacing body fluids with clean water to prevent dehydration, zinc therapy, promotion of early breastfeeding, and promotion of hand washing with soap.

The Plan: 7 Point Plan to Prevent and Treat Diarrhea

The 7-point plan recommended by UNICEF and WHO consists of 5 prevention and 2 treatment strategies for diarrhea:

• Vaccinate against rotavirus and measles.
• Promote early, exclusive breast-feeding and vitamin A supplementation.
• Encourage hand washing with soap. Dr. Veneman noted that an estimated 40% of cases of childhood diarrhea could be prevented by this simple yet effective measure.
• Improve water quantity and quality, including treatment and safe storage of household water. Market-based product distribution may facilitate household water treatment.
• Promote community-wide sanitation, which may include encouraging households with sufficient funds to purchase their own toilets rather than relying on subsidies. Behavioral change triggers, such as disgust, nurture, comfort, and peer pressure to conform, may be more effective than health-related arguments.
• Fluid replacement treatment to prevent dehydration. First-line treatment should be oral rehydration therapy with low-osmolarity oral rehydration salts. Compliance may be improved by the introduction of new flavors and packet sizes. In addition, continued breast-feeding and other feeding and fluid intake should be encouraged. If oral rehydration salts are not available, other appropriate fluids can be given at home.
• Treatment with zinc supplementation. Treatment kits containing zinc supplements as well as oral rehydration salts may be distributed by community health workers or through special campaigns.

The WHO is also recommending the use of a new rotavirus vaccine as yet another means of preventing potentially lethal diarrhea.

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