Evidence-Based Diarrheal Disease Programs
The first evidence-based program created to help fight diarrheal disease was the National control of diarrheal disease (NCDDP). This program was first established in the year 1981 and was fully active countrywide by 1984 in Egypt. Its primary purpose was to campaign for lower mortality rates as far as a diarrheal disease in children was concerned (Miller & Hirschhorn, 1995). They had a target of reducing the death rates by at least 25% within the next five years. The primary strategy they used to accomplish this goal was better feeding and oral rehydration, which helped with the production of rehydrated salt. The process is a reverse of dehydration that is caused by diarrheal disease. NCDDP was run by the ministry of health in Egypt and was very instrumental in reducing the number of diarrheal disease death overall. The program was successful while it lasted; it was concluded in the year 1991.
The next program that was instrumental in the fight against Diarrheal disease was the control of Diarrheal disease (CDD). CDD was started by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the year 1980 (Chen, 1978). The main aim of this program was to research and devise ways to reduce mortality and morbidity among young children in developing countries. It had come to their attention that diarrheal disease was taking a toll on kids and that a quarter of infant and children’s death was related to the disease. It started by carrying research to establish the disease’s prevalence in a country and assess how the disease is managed, especially at home during the recovery process. They were also keen on the drug that was being used to treat the disease, how effective it was, how readily available it was for the children suffering from diarrheal disease, especially in low-income families. Survey emphasis was put on two countries, Dakahlia and Egypt, which is our case study country. The program was run by the world health organization (WHO). It wanted to ensure that the disease could be prevented, treated, and that the children were adequately fed in the duration of the illness.
Oral rehydration program was incorporated in the healing process of the disease by the world health organization. The world health organization hand in hand with other diarrheal disease programs like NCDDP had researched the illness (Victora et al., 2000). The results showed that the disease particularly hit Egypt since it was located in a desert for a big part. As a result, once a child contacts the disease, the risk of dehydration is very high, and more often than not, the child died. A solution needed to be found. Quickly, research showed that the oral rehydration salt (ORS) helped with the problem. It was also super cheap, hence affordable for any and everyone who needs medical attention. With this assurance that the ORS would help with the disease, the oral rehydration program was launched, and with the help of the ORS, the mortality rate went down significantly (Miller & Hirschhorn, 1995).
As the program director in NCDDP, I would have ensured that it did not shut down when it did in the year 1991. The work the program did was impressive and probably would have been a good call to keep the program running, the ministry of health could make good use of the program. Websites that can be used by those working with global health to prevent the spread of the diarrheal disease include the World Health Organization (WHO) (Circumference & Ratio, 2008), the USAID (El Khoby et al., 1998), which stands for the United States agency of international development. Another website that could be of help is the disease control is UNICEF (Skelton, 2007); it follows up maternal and newborn health, which happens to be the people at risk of getting the disease. There is also the UNICEF DATA, which specifically monitors women’s and children’s situations (Unicef, 2016).
References
Chen, L. C. (1978). Control of diarrheal disease morbidity and mortality: Some strategic issues [Bangladesh]. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (USA).
Circumference, W. W., & Ratio, W.-H. (2008). Report of a WHO expert consultation. Geneva: WHO, 8–11.
El Khoby, T., Galal, N., & Fenwick, A. (1998). The USAID/Government of Egypt’s schistosomiasis research project (SRP). Parasitology Today, 14(3), 92–96.
Miller, P., & Hirschhorn, N. (1995). The effect of a national control of diarrheal diseases program on mortality: The case of Egypt. Social Science & Medicine, 40(10), S1–S30.
Skelton, T. (2007). Children, young people, UNICEF, and participation. Children’s Geographies, 5(1–2), 165–181.
Unicef. (2016). UNICEF data: Monitoring the situation of children and women. New York: Unicef.
Victora, C. G., Bryce, J., Fontaine, O., & Monasch, R. (2000). Reducing deaths from diarrhoea through oral rehydration therapy. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 78, 1246–1255.