Characteristics of Households - Childinfo.org

VI CHILD HEALTHOral Rehydration TreatmentDiarrhoea is the second leading cause of death amongchildren under five worldwide. Most diarrhoea-relateddeaths in children are due to dehydration from loss oflarge quantities of water and electrolytes from the body inliquid stools. Management of diarrhoea — either throughoral rehydration salts (ORS) or a recommended home fluid(RHF) — can prevent many of these deaths. Preventingdehydration and malnutrition by increasing fluid intakeand continuing to feed the child are also importantstrategies for managing diarrhoea.The MDGs are to: 1) reduce by one half death due todiarrhoea among children under five by 2010 comparedto 2000 (A World Fit for Children); and 2) reduce bytwo-thirds the mortality rate among children under fiveby 2015 compared to 1990 (Millennium DevelopmentGoals). In addition, the World Fit for Children calls for areduction in the incidence of diarrhoea by 25 percent.The indicators are:• Prevalence of diarrhoea• Oral rehydration therapy (ORT)• Home management of diarrhoea• ORT with continued feedingIn the MICS questionnaire, mothers (or caretakers) wereasked to report whether their child had had diarrhoea inthe two weeks prior to the survey. If so, the mother wasasked a series of questions about what the child had todrink and eat during the episode and whether this wasmore or less than the child usually ate and drank.Overall, about 8 percent of children under-five had haddiarrhoea in the two weeks preceding the survey (TableCH.1). Diarrhoea prevalence was similar in all regions.The peak of diarrhoea prevalence occurs among childrenaged 24–47 months.Table CH.1 also shows the percentage of children receivingvarious types of recommended liquids during the episodeof diarrhoea. Since mothers were able to name more thanone type of liquid, the percentages do not necessarily addto 100 percent. About 36 percent received fluids fromORS packets or pre-packaged ORS fluids and 68 percentreceived recommended homemade fluids. Approximately73 percent of children with diarrhoea received one or moreof the recommended home treatments (i.e., were treatedwith ORS or any recommended homemade fluid). There isa difference in administration of ORS or a recommendedhomemade fluid between urban (86 percent) and ruralareas (61 percent).72MULTIPLE INDICATOR CLUSTER SURVEY 2010