The timeline setting of my disease of choice was the 1980s
The timeline setting of my disease of choice was the 1980s when the diarrheal illness took a toll on children in various parts of the world, explicitly highlighting Egypt. Diarrheal disease still causes deaths, especially in children under the age of five in today’s life. To understand how this could be made a smaller problem and save lives, it is essential to note the historical trend of the disease. The diarrheal illness had hit Egypt hard. With children dying from dehydration caused by the disease in high numbers, the journey to finding a durable solution, reducing if not eliminating all deaths caused by the disease, became an agenda for Egypt and the global public health.
Local organizations formed by the government of Egypt and international health organizations became major parts of finding the solution to this stubborn disease in Egypt. The process of intense research on the ground to understand the factor that facilitated the spread of diarrheal disease in Egypt. Educating the people on the hygiene measures they need to take to stay healthy and avoid the illness. The process is followed by finding a solution for the disease, a cheap, effective, and readily available solution for all people regardless of their financial status. The organizations helped with funds, equipment, training programs, among many other ways to facilitate the process.
SECTION 1
Diarrheal disease
Diarrheal disease is an illness in which a person passes very watery, almost liquid stool. This watery stool, commonly known as diarrhea, can be passed by the host a couple of times a day. This results in the host losing a lot of fluids, and it can cause dehydration. For the most part, when the sick person hydrates regularly, they recover in days when the fluids are not replaced; however, the results can be deadly. Usually, a healthy adult body can survive diarrhea for a couple of days; the issue arises when the children come in. The children under the age of five have been dying from diarrheal disease, which is why it was a concern of global public health.
Children have a smaller body mass, so naturally, losing fluids at the same rate as a healthy adult, the child is more likely to get dehydrated faster, and this has resulted in a lot of young children’s lives. The disease id widespread but hit Egypt the most due to its geographical location. Another factor that may have caused the disease to be so prevalent is the use of contaminated water to drink, cook, or even grow crops. The illness with these factors no handled would continue to spread; it was, therefore, more critical for the organizations to approach the issue from the root cause to reduce the impact of this deadly disease in kids.
Statistics
In the modern-day setup, diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under the age of five. Research shows that over half a million children, approximately 525,000, are killed by the disease annually. These are high numbers, especially considering that the disease is both preventable and treatable. The basic most crucial step that can be taken to reduce the number of diarrheal diseases to continue increasing would be to ensure the use of clean water. As it is globally, there are almost 1.7 billion cases of diarrheal illness in children every year. It is important to note how the number of deaths caused by diarrheal disease is a lot less than the estimated number of cases annually. This takes us back to when the diarrheal disease was producing much more damage, man more deaths, and how that was put under control. Egypt is my country of research as it was among the states hit hardest by the deadly effects of this disease.
Research shows that 20 out of 1000 children infected by the disease died. By 1977, statistics showed that the disease caused more than half of all infant deaths in Egypt. This means that the mortality rate was high, and international health organizations like the world health organization (WHO) saw the need to step in. The number of deaths caused by diarrheal disease was 1.4 to 2.5 million infant deaths. It was the second leading cause of death in children under the age of five in Egypt.
Determinants of Diarrheal disease
The main reason the diarrheal disease was of significant concern was the environmental conditions that facilitate its spread or make the symptoms go from bad to worse. Egypt, is located in a desert for the better part of the country, is naturally a dry country. When children catch the diarrheal disease, it is easier for them to get dehydrated and die because access to water is limited. The high temperatures will facilitate even higher rates of dehydration. For this reason, Egypt became one of the majorly affected countries by the diarrheal disease.
The disease is spread from animals who defecate near water bodies, and their waste contaminates the water. This contamination could also come from sick people who defecate in the water or near the water bodies, and the feces end up in the water. This contaminated water is then used by people for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and even watering crops. If contaminated water is used as stated above, the people who use it are likely to get sick with the disease. The disease can also be spread to a person caring for a sick person once they touch the contaminated person. A significant determinant of the spread of this disease is, therefore, hygiene.
Hygiene was a problem then with toilets not being readily available and water not being a scarce resource, especially in Egypt, a country covered mainly by a desert but having river Nile as a source of water. With the primary source of water contaminated by the farmers uses the contaminated water to grow their crops, people eat the food from these farmers and use the water as well. This is how the diarrheal disease came to be a big problem in Egypt. With the source of water facilitating the spread, the climate was sustaining the illness in the body and consequently leading to the deaths. Diarrheal disease causes the loss of a lot of body fluids. As a result, the host may become dehydrated, with the water shortage, and the high temperature as a result of being in a desert, dehydration is very likely. This is why deaths from this disease were so high in Egypt. The water source was facilitating spread, and the climate is sustaining the condition.
To eliminate the disease, campaigning for cleanliness, proper hygiene, and the right sanitation had to be held. To teach the people on the things that cause the spread of the disease and the factors they can adjust to avoid the disease. The organizations also had the challenge of coming up with a solution that would fix dehydration and ensure that a disease does not claim so many lives that some people recover from in days. The solution needed to be a fast one, cheap, and made affordable to everyone regardless of their location or financial status.
Relationship between diarrheal disease and dehydration
There is a significant relationship between diarrheal disease and dehydration. While diarrhea and dehydration differ in definition and function, it is evident that they are related to diarrhea, just being the passing of watery stool, while dehydration is losing too much fluid in the body. Diarrhea disease causes dehydration due to loss of body fluid, which can lead to death if it does not stop on its own or get treated. Dehydration is the removal of water from something in the human body; it is the loss of water or fluid in excess. This reduction of fluid in the body is very harmful.
Since the diarrheal disease is an ailment that involves passing of watery fluid, a lot of body fluids are lost during the time a person is experiencing diarrhea. When experiencing diarrhea, a person can pass stool three or more times a day. This is too frequent, mainly because fluids are lost every time. There are three types of diarrhea; the first type is acute watery diarrhea; it lasts several hours or days at most. It is not deadly, and if a person keeps drinking water, they may even not experience dehydration. The second type is acute bloody diarrhea, also known as dysentery. The third type is persistent diarrhea; it lasts more than fourteen days, definitely causes dehydration, and can lead to deadly results
; dehydration results from loss of fluids as well as electrolytes such as sodium chloride or potassium. The lack of fluids and these electrolytes makes the body cells flaccid, and that is when a person experiences dehydration. Dehydration, like diarrhea, has limits and extremes; there is no dehydration stage; this is the type of dehydration that is so small that symptoms barely show. The body can quickly recover from without external interference. The second dehydration level is some hydration. This is when he has lost a considerable amount of fluids and electrolytes; symptoms of this show as irritability, restlessness, sunken eyes, and they are always thirsty. The third and most dangerous type of dehydration is severe dehydration. Severe dehydration symptoms include unconsciousness, sunken eyes, inability to drink fluids, and skin going back very slowly, even two seconds. At this point, the body cells are completely flaccid, which is why the skin goes back very slowly.
Dehydration is the most severe threat posed by diarrhea, for the most part, it is diarrhea that causes dehydration, but it is the dehydration that leads to death.
SECTION 2
Organizations involved
The National control of diarrheal disease (NCDDP)was formed by the ministry of health in Egypt to tackle it. The NCDDP aimed at reducing the number of deaths caused by diarrheal disease. They spread awareness, encouraged hygiene, and other preventive measures that the locals could take to avoid diarrheal disease. They then started administering rehydration tactics for the children infected by the disease. The reason one could succumb to diarrheal disease was due to dehydration that comes as a result. Finding an easy, quick fix for rehydration helps avoid death.
In the spreading of awareness, NCDDP did the best they could to reach the whole of Egypt. When the organization started in 1981, it was just a basic organization, by the year 1984, its impact had been spread and felt nationwide, and it was a national organization. They used Television as their central media outlet. The technology was not as advanced as it is today; NCDDP did, however, make use of the Television, which, as a result, reached very many people in Egypt. It was a very successful tactic in the spreading of awareness on matters concerning hygiene, drinking clean water, and maintaining healthy sanitation.
NCDDP did help promote rehydration tactics. Apart from promoting awareness to prevent people from getting infected, Egypt already high numbers of infected cases with a high death rate in children. NCDDP also helped with developing rehydration tactics. They launched a training team specializing in training trainers on how to diagnose and treat diarrhea and dehydration. They also supplied oral rehydration salts. These salts were very useful when it came to rehydration. Not to mention the fact that they were cheap and could be made readily available for the affected. Oral salts are a packet of a ready-made salt that dissolves in water. It was discovered in the 1960s. It is a lot easier and safer than IV treatment, which is another way of treating dehydration.
The following organization that took a significant part in this process was the world health organization (WHO). The WHO contributed to the fight against the disease in Egypt financially and in terms of providence of facilities. They gave materials and training worth $450,000; they worked hand in hand with NCDDP to ensure that they covered all the ground in Egypt and reached as many people as needed.
Another organization that was quite instrumental in the funding of the projects was the United States agency of international development (USAID). USAID is a global development agency that sometimes shows America’s generosity by offering a helping hand when the rest of the world needs it. The USAID helped fund the project and gave a total of $266,000,000 in grants to help save young children’s lives so that they have a shot in life.
Primary preventive approaches
Primary preventive approaches in Egypt were campaigning and educating people on the importance of hygiene, waste disposal, and clean boiled water consumption. The campaign primarily aimed at educating the people on why they were continually being infected by the disease and what they needed to do to avoid being infected. They were also trained on what they need to do in case infected to prevent adverse consequences. The campaigns teach the people the science behind dehydration and why it is essential to drink lots of fluid, and one is having diarrhea.
Secondary preventive approaches
Secondary preventative approaches were significant changes that needed to be made to ensure that this disease spread is brought under control. The government of Egypt looked into the water supply chain as well as sanitization among its people. Projects for piped water supplies were done. These projects have come to be accomplished in later years. Pipeline water supply would provide access to safe essential water for use by the people. On sanitization, an initiative to eliminate the habit of public defecation in rural areas, which was a significant concern, and a direct factor in facilitating the spread of the disease was taken. Another considerable approach in preventing death by the disease was the administering of the rehydration salt. They ensured that the oral hydration salts were supplied in small sizes.
The oral rehydration salt is an oral application of fluid that is used to treat diarrhea. It was less complicated since it was administered orally, cheaper, and safer than IV. The fact that they were administered orally made this medication very simple; it was also a lot cheaper hence useful for the treatment of a mass number of people. This was just the right treatment to prevent death by diarrheal disease.
SECTION 3
The diarrheal disease was able to be reduced with the funds from the organizations, both local and international. At the beginning of the NCDDP organization, they set a target to reduce the number of diarrheal deaths for children under the age of five by twenty-five percent. The results achieved by NCDDP as far as campaign and mass treatment of the diarrheal disease were concerned were great. By 1986, the awareness campaign had been successfully done countrywide, 99% of the mothers were educated about the diarrheal disease and everything it entails, and preventative and curative measures to take when need be.
The number of diarrhea-related deaths also decreased significantly during this period. Research shows that the diarrheal death rate fell from 82% to 62% in children. This means that a lot more lives were being rescued by the local organization and the elimination of the diarrheal disease initiative altogether. Between the years 1982 and 1987, the number of infant diarrheal deaths dropped by nearly 40%. This ultimately beat their initial target that was to reduce the death rate by 25%. By the year 1991, the NCDDP organization closed down since all its agendas had been met. The project had been a success.
The problem did not end entirely, but its effects got toned down in Egypt. In the modern-day, diarrheal disease is still a disease that is affecting children and claiming lives. The numbers are nothing compared to the eighties and nineties, but the numbers are still high, and there are underway projects to deal with the disease. Between the years 1998 and 2006, piped water supply in Egypt had been installed 100% in the urban areas and escalated from 39% to 93% in the rural areas. This rate is quite commendable, especially with the rapid population increase. With the water piped, the problem of contamination is handled effectively, which is why the spread rate went down significantly.
Diarrheal disease is a disease that is both preventable and easily treatable. With modern technology and levels of education, the knowledge on the necessity of hygiene is general knowledge, the treatment of diarrheal disease is also cheap and easy to administer. Diarrhea is still a leading killer of children under the age of five .Diarrheal conditions are still a problem in the sub-Saharan region and southern Asia. If more efforts are put in showing the people how to deal with the disease, many lives could be saved by necessary intervention.