United Nations Radio

Child receiving oral rehydration salt

PRES: Diarrhea kills one and a half million children each year, even though it is both preventable and easily treatable. The World Health Organization and UNICEF have come up with a plan to reduce the incidence of diarrhea worldwide. Bissera Kostova reports.

NARR: Nearly one in five children under the age of five dies as a result of dehydration, weakened immunity, or malnutrition associated with diarrhea, according to UNICEF. Because less than half of all children who get diarrhea get proper treatment, more children die of the disease than of AIDS, measles and malaria combined. Mark Young is a Senior Health Specialist at UNICEF.

Young: Deaths are usually occurring in a child that is already undernourished or malnourished, maybe ill or sick from another illnesses and it's a compounded thing. But it's really the dehydration or loss of body fluids that cause the child to go into shock.

NARR: Most of the 2.5 billion cases of diarrhea in children every year are caused by lack of clean water and poor hygiene. The UN children's agency says that thirty years ago, a concentrated push by the international community was tremendously successful in reducing diarrheal deaths by scaling up the use of oral rehydration therapy.

Young: Oral rehydration salts, or ORS has been one of the major medical advances of the 20th century and has been around for about 30 years and has saved millions of lives around the world.

NARR: But access to this therapeutic treatment has stopped expanding since the year 2000. Clarissa Brocklehurst is Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF.

Brocklehurst: It's a disappointment to many of us that diarrhea has slipped so much, given that it is such a huge factor in child survival and it's a bit of a mystery as to why that has happened. And of course, other diseases have come in and caught the spotlight. What it means is that the spending on the ways to reduce diarrheal disease is completely disproportional to its impact.

NARR: In their new report, titled 'Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done' - UNICEF and WHO recommend the use of oral rehydration salts and zinc to treat diarrhea. These two interventions, combined with continued breastfeeding and fluid intake, can greatly reduce mortality. There is also a vaccine that can prevent a common viral infection in children that causes diarrhea, says Mark Young.

Young: There is now a new vaccine, the rotavirus vaccine which is recommended by the World Health Organization and now it's up to us to really support countries to incorporate the rotavirus vaccine into the routine immunization program.

NARR: Hand washing is also being promoted by UNICEF as one of the best and cheapest ways to prevent diarrhea in children. The UN has even designated October 15th as Global Handwashing Day.

Producer: Bissera Kostova

Duration: 2'35"