Childhood mortality from diarrhoea falls by third
pharmafile | June 2, 2017 | News story | Medical Communications | Diarhhoea, India, Nigeria
A study has found that the rates of children dying from diarrhoea worldwide fell by a third through the decade 2005 to 2015. The Lancet report revealed that the major factors involved in the drop were improved access to clean water, reduction of childhood undernutrition and the introduction of a vaccine for rotavirus – a common cause of diarrhoea.
Despite this positive trend, it was found that just two countries accounted for 42% of all deaths as a result of diarrhoea occurred in India and Nigeria. India was found to experience 84 deaths in children per 100,000 in 2015, which meant that in that year alone the country lost approximately 100,000 children to diarrhoea. While in Nigeria approximately 150,000 children under the age of five die as a result of the condition.
Diarrhoea is still the fourth largest cause of childhood mortality globally, as there is an estimated figure of 525,000 of children under five dying through problems related to diarrhoea. In total, there were 1.3 million deaths of people of all ages.
A major cause of deaths in children under the age of five is through the contraction of rotavirus. However, this is one of the principal success areas in the prevention of diarrhoea related deaths. The mortality for children under the age of five fell by 43.6%, a massive reduction that has been identified as due t the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine and support of its distribution through Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
“Diarrhoeal diseases disproportionately affect young children,” lead author Dr Ali Mokdad, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, was reported as saying. “Despite some promising reductions in mortality, the devastating impact of these diseases cannot be overlooked. Immediate and sustained actions must be taken to help low-income countries address this problem by increasing healthcare access and the use of oral rehydration solutions.”
India, for its part, has several on-going campaigns to raise awareness of the issues that can lead to problems with diarrhoea and how to stop the spread, including by organisations such as World Vision India that aim to educate people as a principal preventative method. The campaigning is seeing positive impacts, as the country experienced a reduction in cases in children under the age of five by 43.2%.
Rates in Nigeria are also falling but the country is struggling to expand access to the rotavirus vaccine and diarrhoea still accounts for 16% of childhood deaths. The vaccine is not currently available in public health facilities across the country and people are taking the course of action to pay for vaccination at private hospitals, which may or may not be legitimate medicine.
The report has called for further developments in vaccines against rotavirus to further reduce the spread of the rotavirus. Illnesses whilst children are young are major cause of impaired physical growth and have wide spread health implications later in life, preventing the number of those contracting the condition could therefore boost the overall health of the global population.
Ben Hargreaves
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