District Health Department to Hold Fifteen Day ICDF Campaign on Curbing Diarrhea among Infants
Mangaluru: “We will be launching an initiative called Intensified Diarrhea Control Fortnight for the next 15 days i.e. from June 3rd – June 17th, 2019. This program is particularly for children aged from 0 – 5 years old with the target of controlling diarrhea among these children. When infants contract diarrhea, they lose a lot of fluids and this may result in deaths as well. By creating awareness about diarrhea and its cures, it will prevent the occurrence of such incidents. Sometimes, when infants have diarrhea or vomiting problems, the parents think that giving the babies water will only increase the problem. However, when the water in the body decreases, the infant must be given more water to make up for the loss of fluids. Sugar or salt must be dissolved in hot water and given to the infant until diarrhea stops”, said District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr M Ramakrishna Rao in a press meet held at the DHO Office here, on June 1.
Addressing the mediapersons Ramakrishna Rao said, “Hot water and sugar/salt solutions are some home remedies to cure diarrhea. However, zinc tablets and ORS packets are also effective medicines for diarrhea among infants. ORS medicine ensures oral rehydration as the infant will be dehydrated due to loss of bodily fluids. The Zinc tablets will prevent diarrhea from happening again and again. In collaboration with the district WCD department, our goal is to distribute ORS packets to 1, 40,288 children in the year 2019-20. About 8 percent of deaths among 0-5-year-old children is diarrhea-related. We will distribute ORS packets to all the houses that have children within the stipulated age bracket, regardless of whether they have diarrhea or not. This will help create awareness among the people.”
Rao further said, “One ORS sachet must be dissolved in 1 litre of hot water. The Zinc tablets will only be distributed to children who already have diarrhea. However, ORS packets contain electrolytes that can be given to the children when they vomit or feel dehydrated. The ORS sachets have a shelf life of six months. We will also be setting up ORS corners for fifteen days where we will demonstrate how to prepare the ORS solution. These corners will be located near government hospitals and panchayat offices.”