Diarrhoea and pneumonia kills four lakh children under five in India

http://www.vipspatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/3-lakh-children.jpg

India continues to lose more than 400,000 children before their fifth birthday due to two easily preventable diseases – pneumonia and diarrhoea – according to a new report released on Tuesday. Many Indian children do not have access to life saving treatment and preventive measures, says the Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report 2013 published by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, US.

The report said India continues to have the largest number of pneumonia and diarrhoea cases in the world. The country continues to lose more than 400,000 children before their fifth birthday due to these two easily preventable diseases. Many more children suffer from severe illness. While India has made some progress in coverage of pneumonia interventions and is poised to protect more children from pneumonia and diarrhoea with the upcoming national scale up of pentavalent vaccine, its coverage levels for both pneumonia and diarrhoea remain below targeted levels, the report said.

Pneumonia and diarrhoea continue to be the leading killers of children under the age of five worldwide. According to the latest estimates by Unicef, pneumonia and diarrhoea together claimed the lives of more than 1.7 million children under five in 2012 alone. ‘India has taken a few steps in addressing the pneumonia disease burden by introducing the Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine in nine states. The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has now recommended the vaccine for a national scale up,’ N.K. Ganguly of the National Institute of Immunology said. However, India still needs to include other vaccines such as rotavirus and pneumococcal in its national programme while simultaneously strengthening its health systems and improving access to other preventive interventions and treatment solutions, he said.

 What is diarrhoea? 

Diarrhoea is a disease that is spread from one person to another due to infection from an organism. According to statistics, India falls behind the rest of the world because of the large number of people who do not have access to proper bathrooms which leads to open defecation, a practice common in rural parts of the country

Diarrhoea is a common problem in infants and children, but if not managed well, it can quickly turn deadly. It is the second biggest cause of child deaths globally, after pneumonia. According to the WHO, more than 2.3 million children below the age of five die in India each year, of which 334,000 are attributable to the condition. This is a needless tragedy because the illness is easy to prevent and manage. (Read: How can we solve India’s diarrhoea problem?)

When is a child said to suffer from diarrhoea? What causes it?

A child is said to be suffering from diarrhoea when he/she passes at least three loose or watery stools per day. Other symptoms of diarrhoea include vomiting, stomach ache, headache and fever.

The condition is mostly due to a gastro-intestinal infection caused by some types of bacteria, viruses or parasites that are transmitted to humans through contaminated food or water. So-much-so that about 88% of the children who die due to diarrhoea, contract it because they consume unsafe water, live with sub standard hygiene and in poor sanitation conditions. The most common cause of diarrhoea is the rotavirus and it is responsible for about 40% of all hospital admissions among children under the age of five, worldwide. Read more… 

What is pneumonia? 

It is an inflammatory lung condition affecting primarily the alveoli (tiny air sacs in the lungs). It is commonly caused due to an infection caused due to a viruses or bacteria, and in rare cases due to cancers, autoimmune disorders or some other damage to the lungs. typical symptoms include cough, fever, breathlessness and fever. Most commonly seen in people with chronic lung conditions and severe infections are most likely to experience these symptoms. Common methods to treat the condition are antibiotics, lung aspiration (to drain the fluid), bronchodilators and steroids that can target the inflammation in the lungs.

 

Health News, health tipsChildren's health, Diarrhoea, Diseases & Conditions, Health, In the news, India, Malnutrition, Pneumonia, UNICEF
Diarrhoea and pneumonia kills four lakh children under five in India