Oral rehydration therapy in reducing diarrhoea-related mortality in rural India.

Abstract

The role of WHO-recommended oral rehydration solution (WHO-ORS) in reducing diarrhea-related deaths among children below the age of 6 years was evaluated in a rural community of Haryana North India. The WHO-ORS was implemented in 25 villages by the available state health workers (study area A) and in another 22 villages by the unpaid literate village volunteers (study area B). A group of 22 villages served as control area in which WHO-ORS was not provided from the project resources. Weekly surveillance for 2 years by trained field workers showed an overall incidence of 2.06 episodes of diarrhea/child/year. The diarrhea attack rates were similar in the study and control areas (p0.05). The ORS was utilized in 68% episodes of diarrhea in study area A 52% in study area B and 14% in the control area. Case-fatality rates were found to be significantly lower (p0.01) in study areas A and B (0.93 and 1.63/1000 episodes respectively) as compared with those in the control area (3.64/1000). The results show that the use of WHO-ORS in the community can lead to a substantial reduction in diarrhea-related mortality among children. (authors)