Promoting appropriate management of diarrhea: A systematic review of literature for advocacy and action: UNICEF-PHFI series on newborn and child health, India

Abstract

This systematic review summarizes current evidence on childhood diarrhea and provides evidence to inform child health programs in India.

A study on knowledge and practice of mothers of under-five children regarding management of diarrhoea in urban field practice area of MRMC, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India

“…Such consultations may lead to irrational prescription of antibiotics in children. 22,23 This fact is more relevant when an estimate suggested about 150,000 under five diarrhoeal deaths in India are of Rotavirus origin. 24 Only a few percentage of the children received zinc solution during an episode of diarrhoea.…”

“…3 Most of the mortalities and morbidities due to diarrhoea can be prevented by practicing primary preventive measures such as use of clean water, hand washing, good cooking practices, exclusive breast feeding, immunization, sanitary disposal of excreta, use of latrines and good sanitary and hygienic practices. 4,8 Secondary preventive measures include early recognition of dehydration due to diarrhoea and prompt oral rehydration by ORT, increased & continued feeding of energy dense food in addition to breastfeeding, zinc therapy and the use of appropriate antibiotics for severe cases of diarrhoea. 2,8 Timely and appropriate management of cases at household and in health services remains an important intervention for reducing mortality due to childhood diarrhoea.…”

Diarrhoeagenic microbes by real-time PCR in Rwandan children under 5 years of age with acute gastroenteritis

“…Improvements of hygiene, sanitary standards, food handling, nutrition status and healthcare are general goals for low-income countries that may reduce the burden of diarrhoeal disease. However, decisions regarding more specific interventions such as vaccination against rotavirus [3], Shigella or ETEC [4] and use of antibiotics [5] are important and require data from studies that investigate the majority of putative aetiologies, preferably using methods with a similar diagnostic performance for all causative agents. New multi-targeting molecular methods should be useful for such investigations because they allow detection of essentially all diarrhoeagenic pathogens with high specificity and sensitivity [6][7][8].…”

Treating diarrhoeal disease in children under five: the global picture

“…For instance, particularly low use of ORS is observed throughout the Sahel region of West Africa (<20%) while higher levels of use are typically found across countries within southern Africa (50–70%) 6. Wide disparities in coverage are similarly observed among South Asian countries: India's ORS coverage rate (26%) is low32 compared with Bangladesh (78%),33 which has the highest rate of ORS coverage of any low-income country. The limited information that is available on the prevalence of zinc supplementation suggests that few countries appear to exceed 6% coverage, with the exception of El Salvador (12%), Democratic People's Republic of Korea (19%)4 and Bangladesh (34%) 33…”