Diarrhea claims 1.3 million children’s lives and ails a staggering 2.5 billion children under-five annually, mostly in Africa and South Asia. Gains from the introduction of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) and improved water, sanitation and hygiene are eroding due to lack of attention and inadequate resources at global and country levels. Over the past decade, ORT use declined, preventive efforts have been fragmented, and programs have achieved limited coverage. Yet, implementing evidence-based preventive and treatment interventions at scale, including rotavirus vaccination and zinc treatment, could reduce the disease burden significantly.
This webinar is the first of a series of webinars on diarrheal disease co-hosted by Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) and CORE Group. On Feb. 15, 2012, Dr. Dyness Kasungami’s presentation highlighted the unfinished agenda to reduce morbidity and mortality resulting from diarrhea, and advocate for coordinated approaches to implement a package of effective interventions, mobilizing resources and sounds the call for a global coalition of a multi-disciplinary partners to save 1.3 million lives annually. Dr. Kasungami discussed on what we can do with existing resources, and explore opportunities for mobilizing additional funding.
Dr. Dyness Kasungami is the Team Leader of the Child Health Technical Officer at MCHIP.
Watch the webinar here.
Additional Resources:
- ColaLife: This organization works in developing countries to bring Coca-Cola, its bottlers and others together to open up Coca-Cola’s distribution channels to carry ‘social products’ such as oral rehydration salts and zinc supplements to save children’s lives.
- Join up, Scale up: How integration can defeat disease and poverty: This report highlights examples across 17 countries of how bringing together different development approaches is working to help tackle poverty and disease, and calls on the international community to prioritize and invest in these joined-up programs.
- Scaling up oral rehydration salts and zinc for the treatment of diarrhoea: This editorial article was published in BMJ Feb. 10, 2012.
- Vaccines for All: Help Save 4 Million Children’s Lives by 2015: This report, published by Save the Children,calls on all donors to seize the opportunity to close the funding gap and provide vaccines for all children. It includes a section on Rotavirus immunization.
- No Child Out of Reach: Time to End the Health Worker Crisis: This report, also published by Save the Children,stresses the need for strengthening primary & community level health systems for delivering integrated programming.