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Tag: diarrhoea

  • 5 children die every minute in Africa – WHO

    5 children die every minute in Africa – WHO

    In 2013, an estimated 6.3 million children under five died, 2.9 million of them in the WHO African region. This is equivalent to five children under 5 years of age dying every minute. Two thirds of these deaths can be attributed to preventable causes. A third of all these deaths are in the neonatal period.

    Pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and HIV are the main causes of death in infants and young children. In the African Region, about 473 000 children die from pneumonia, 300 000 from diarrhoea, and a further 443 000 from malaria every year. In 2012, 230 000 new HIV infections were recorded among children under 5 years of age.

    “Although tremendous progress has been made in identifying and treating infants and children with HIV, much remains to be done to scale-up and sustain effective prevention, care and treatment, especially of pneumonia and diarrhoea,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

    Pneumonia is the single biggest killer of children worldwide, accounting for nearly one in seven deaths among young children, with an estimated over 950 000 deaths annually. Most of the deaths occur in resource-constrained countries, with 50% in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Globally, diarrhoeal diseases account for nearly one out of every six deaths in children under 5 years of age, equivalent to over 578 000 deaths per year. Diarrhoeal disease occurs more commonly in HIV-infected people, with worse outcomes than in uninfected children.

    Persistent diarrhoea in particular is associated with a high risk of death in HIV-infected children. Administration of oral rehydration and zinc in combination with antiretroviral therapy (ART) and restoring immune function are critical for the treatment of diarrhoea in children with HIV.

    “Undernutrition is another critical risk factor in most countries in the African Region, and nutrition and food security remains a fundamental challenge to child survival. Breastfeeding is one of the best ways to provide newborns, infants and young children with the nutrients that they need while protecting them against conditions like pneumonia, diarrhea and undernutrition,” Dr Moeti added.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that exclusive breastfeeding starts within one hour after birth and lasts until a baby is six months old. Continued breastfeeding and appropriate complementary foods should be made available for up to 2 years of age and beyond.

    In mid-2013, WHO issued new guidelines for breastfeeding and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. These recommendations were intended for use in resource-poor settings in low-and middle-income countries.

    One of the recommendations for PMTCT is to promote the use of ART in all pregnant and breastfeeding women. These recommendations also include providing ART – irrespective of one’s CD4 count – to all children under 5 years of age with HIV, all pregnant, and all breastfeeding women with HIV including their infants until they cease to breastfeed.

    Health systems in Africa are often not able to adequately address the severe burden of childhood disease. Low total health expenditure with high out of pocket health costs hamper progress in child survival. Hence just as health can drive economic growth, ill-health can push people into poverty and make it very difficult for them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty and disease.

    WHO said it will continue to work with governments and partners to strengthen health systems to reduce unacceptably high infant and child deaths in the African Region.

  • Diarrhoea claims 3 lives in Niger

    No fewer than three persons lost their lives, following an outbreak of diarrhoea in two Local Government Areas of Niger.

    The Director of Public Health in the state’s Ministry of Health, Dr Usman Mohammed, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Friday.

    Mohammed said that the ministry was notified of the outbreak of the disease in Tafa Local Government Area, adding that the State Government had sent a medical team to the area for medical assistance.

    “We have received information on the outbreak of stooling and vomiting in Tafa town, we dispatch a team of medical personnel to examine the situation.

    “The report shows 36 persons have contacted the disease, one person died and 35 others are responding to treatment at a government health facility in the area.

    “The ministry received another complaint on similar outbreak in Gawu Babangida.

    “The disease had claimed two lives, while 26 others were receiving treatment at public health facilities in the area.

    “I can assure that the situation is under control, following the intervention of the medical team; no new case of the disease is reported from the area,’’ he said.

    He attributed the outbreak to the source of drinking water, adding that the affected persons were believed to have been fetching water from ponds, following the breakdown of their boreholes.

    Mohammed said the government had concluded arrangements to prevent outbreak of the disease in other parts of the state

  • Students battle diarrhoea

    Students battle diarrhoea

    Did 35 students of Ekiti State University (EKSU) catch diarrhoea from the water they took? The students claimed it was from the water, but the producer is denying their claim.OLATUNJI AWE (300-Level Political Science) reports.

    Ekiti State University (EKSU) students and a water producer are trading words over the ailment of some students. The students, who live in Satellite Phase I and II and Osekita, in the state capital, were said to have caught diarrhoea after taking different brands of sachet water.

    At the time of this report, more than 36 students had been admitted into the university’s health centre. No fewer than six patients are treated daily. “The disease spreads quickly and it is sending more students to the health centre; some have gone home for treatment,” Omowunmi Olayinka, a 400-Level English and Literary Studies student, said.

    The students accused water firms of producing unhygienic water, wondering whether they were certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    Some students visited a producer in Osekita students’ area and met with the owner, who vouched for his company’s integrity. His company, he said, operated under a “very hygienic condition”. He denied that his company produced the contaminated water.

    He was quoted as saying: “I can categorically state that we have been following due process in the production of sachet water and I can prove this by taking you into the factory to see with your eyes. We can go further by you taking sample of our products from different places in the factory for hygienic test in a place of your choice.”

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the students were not satisfied with this explanation. They reportedly told the producer to visit the campus clinic to see victims, who complained of stomach upset and ask them how they contacted the diarrhea.

    “We are not here to destroy the reputation of your company, but we would appreciate it if you stop the production and distribution of the sachet water until it is proven that your product is not the cause of the outbreak of diarrhoea. We are not against your business, but we would appreciate if you go with us to the university health centre to see the victims and confirm from them,” a victim, Abdulrasheed Bello, a 200-Level student, reportedly told the producer.

    He followed the students to the health centre and met with an official of the clinic. The official reportedly told him: “We have had over 20 cases of students who have been discharging excessively, having severe stomach upset and other symptoms of diarrhoea.”

    In an interview with CAMPUSLIFE, a matron shed light on the cause of the disease, which she said may not be unconnected with the unhygienic lifestyle of students “who never wash their hands after using the toilet”. She said such negligence could cause diarrhoea.

    The producer said the disease could also be caused by retailers, who he said, may be selling products they had stored during the protracted Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

    Folake Alomilagba, a 200-Level Economics student, said: “I can recall that a lecturer mentioned a woman in the school area who sells sachet water she stored in her shop during the ASUU strike.”

    Another victim, who is a 100-Level student, said: “I did not take the sachet water they alleged to have caused the diarrhoea. I took a different brand of sachet water and before I knew what was going on, I had severe stomach upset and was terribly stooling . On getting here, the nurses said I needed treatment.”

    The school has launched an investigation into the matter. Its Chief Security Officer, Captain Augustine Ajayi (rtd), and Reverend Father Olaogun of the Department of Sociology told students to collect samples of all sachet water sold around the school for laboratory test. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that NAFDAC could be invited to conduct the test.

    “Refuting the “producer’s claim of high standard”, Kolawole Jide, a 400-Level Economics student and Students’ Union Government (SUG), presidential aspirant, said: “The company’s water sachet does not carry production and expiry dates.”

  • How to prevent killer diseases

    Pneumonia, diarrhoea and hepatitis B are preventable, a community health physician at Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Dr David Karatu has said.

    According to him, they are known as childhood killer diseases because they affect more children than the adults.

    Others are diphtheria, measles, pertussis or whooping cough, poliomyelitis, rubella, tetanus and childhood tuberculosis (TB), anaemia, asthma and bronchiolitis cancer, chicken pox, dental carries, Down syndrome, ricketts, congenital heart disease, influenza, leukemia, meningitis, rheumatic fever, and others.

    He said Nigeria may not reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 because it has not achieved much in the past 13 years it started the programme

    He said: “In a scale of 100, we should be at 25 and I don’t think it will be possible to reach the expected goal within two years, unless with God’s miracle.”

  • Global study finds cure for diarrhoea

    The Global Enteric Multicentre Study (GEMS), coordinated by the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development, has confirmed rotavirus – for which a vaccine already exists – as the leading cause of diarrheal diseases among infants. It equally, identified other top causes for which additional research is urgently needed.

    GEMS found that approximately one in five children under the age of two suffer from moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) each year, which increased children’s risk of death 8.5-fold and led to stunted growth over a two-month follow-up period.

    The international study published in The Lancet provided the clearest picture yet of the impact and most common causes of diarrheal diseases, the second leading killer of young children globally, after pneumonia. Diarrheal diseases claim 800, 000 children annually.

    The Global Enteric Multicentre Study (GEMS) is the largest study ever conducted on diarrheal diseases in developing countries, enrolling more than 20,000 children from seven sites across Asia and Africa.

    “Until now, comprehensive data on the burden of diarrheal diseases in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa has been limited,” said Dr. Myron M. Levine, GEMS Principal Investigator and Professor at the University of Maryland School Of Medicine. “By filling critical gaps in knowledge, we hope GEMS will help countries across these two highest-burden regions focus their efforts to improve child health.”

    Despite many causes, GEMS found that targeting just four pathogens could prevent the majority of MSD cases. Expanding access to vaccines for rotavirus, the leading cause of MSD among infants at every site, could save hundreds of thousands of lives.