Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight to begin today
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 27 2019:
With rising mercury level, the State Health Society, Manipur has advised people to take precautionary measures and extra care of their children as diarrhoea is common during this period of the year.
Diarrhoea, which results in dehydration - is a leading cause of malnutrition globally and a major cause of death for children under 5 .
Speaking to media persons at his office in Lamphelpat, Dr S Manikanta, Mission Director (NHM) State Health Society said that diarrhoea is common among children during summer.
Advising parents to take extra care of their children, he conveyed that there will be an Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight 2019 from May 28 to June 8 to create awareness and achieve zero child deaths due to diarrhoea.
The State Health Society has been launching various precautionary measures and steps every year to minimise cases of diarrhoea among children.
421 Public Health Sub-Centres (PHSCs), 85 Public Health Centres (PHCs) and 17 Community Health Centres (CHCs) and district hospitals including Jiribam and Moreh District Hospitals have been equipped with sufficient Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), zinc supplement and other medicines to administer to children when needed, he said.
ASHA workers will be trained in making instant ORS from salt, sugar and water which can be administered to the children in absence of 'ready to use rehydration solutions' .
The local ASHA workers will assist and demonstrate the process of making the solutions to mothers in their localities, he said and advised parents to immediately admit their children to the nearest healthcare centre or hospital in case of diarrhoea for proper care and treatment.
ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers/helpers and school teachers will be trained and advised on hygiene and sanitary related issues during the mission, he said and added that they will be advised to encourage children to wash hands properly before eating.
The Director further advised mothers not to stop breast-feeding their children even if they (children) are suffering from diarrhoea.
To avoid diarrhoea and to achieve zero child deaths due to diarrhoea, various tasks forces and steering committees have been formed, he said.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), diarrhoea remains 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.
In 2006, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report highlighting the most common cause of death among children, pneumonia: the forgotten killer of children.
Together, pneumonia and diarrhoea are responsible for an estimated 40 per cent of all child deaths around the world each year.
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