Advocacy: Diarrhoea!

July 15, 2010 by admin

Diarrhoea!

Read below, and/or watch this short video and look at the options below to get invovled. http://www.defeatdd.org/press-room/videos#/press-room/videos/lets-talk-about-it

Diarrhoea will be the next two months' focus in Almamata advocacy. Diarrhoeal disease kills 4000 children each DAY and is second only to acute respiratory infections in causes of death in the under 5's. The main burden of disease is shared by Africa and South Asia, with 80% of diarrhoeal deaths. Repeated episodes result in chronic issues include stunted growth and the complications of nutritional deficits.

There has been a halt in the progress against diarrhoeal disease. Much was achieved in the 1980's, with deaths declining by half since then. However, there has been a plateau in recent years. Reducing deaths will be important to meet Millenium Development goal 4 – to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

Solutions are readily available:

• exclusive breast feeding to 6 months with optimal complementary feeding for 6 months to 24 months

• oral rehydration solution for acute episodes

• zinc replacement for a 10 to 14 day course reduces the duration and severity of an acute episode, and reduces the chance of recurrent episodes for up to 3 months

• water, sanitation and hygeine

• rotavirus vaccine, now well established in clinical trials (Madhi et al 2010, Richardson et al 2010)

There has been some recent progress. Kenya, Vietnam and other countries have revised national plans to develop a coordinated approach to diarrhoeal disease. However, there is still much work to do. How can Almamata members help....?

There are 3 ways for you to get involved by supporting global campaigns, publicising diarrahoea and keeping up the pressure on government. Choose from the following depending on how much you can manage:

Option 1:

Join the world's longest toilet queue campaign on www.worldtoiletqueue.org and register support at: www.endwaterpoverty.org

Option 2:

Print out a poster for your mess www.endwaterpoverty.org/documents/englishposterportrait.pdf

Option 3:

Use documents from www.defeatdd.org to keep up pressure on the government to address this important area. Either write to your own MP or to Stephen O'Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, with a responsibility for Policy at the Department for International Development (DFID): e-mail obriens@parliament.uk, or write to:

Stephen O'Brien

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

References links:

Link to Madhi et al 2010

Link to Richardson et al 2010

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