Diarrhoea continues to be one of the primary causes of mortality, illness, and disability in children under the age of five, responsible for 46% of infant deaths in Africa and 19% of infant deaths in South Africa.
Diarrhoea is the second most common infectious cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for 9.2% of fatalities in children under the age of five.
Vomiting and diarrhoea are especially dangerous for infants and toddlers because they are at a higher risk of dehydration, according to Momeena Omarjee, Consumer Healthcare Country Head: Scientific Affairs at Sanofi, South Africa.
Babies under six months of age are particularly at risk for dehydration because their bodies aren't yet ready to handle the massive fluid loss brought on by vomiting or a runny stomach.
Research shows diarrhoea and socio-economic position are tightly related, and children in South Africa who live in poverty have a roughly 10-fold higher risk of dying from diarrhoea than those who are well off.
"In South Africa, many underprivileged children lack proper access to clean, potable water as well as to high-quality early childcare and development.
“Additionally, they only have limited access to nourishment and health services. Due to the recent floods, KwaZulu-Natal, for instance, is witnessing epidemics of diarrhoea and other water-borne infections”, stated Omarjee.
It's a dangerous problem if your child has diarrhoea, refuses to take medicine, or throws up anything you've tried to give them since they could become dehydrated. Significant dehydration might result in hospitalisation and even death.
The following are some warning signs and symptoms of potential dehydration, according to Omarjee:
- Stool blood, especially when there is a fever
- Severe cramps that are becoming worse
- Severe cramps that are becoming worse mouth
- Sunken fontanelle (soft spot on the top, back, and sides of your baby’s head)
- Sunken eyes
- No tears
- Unusually rapid breathing or heartbeat
- Listlessness
- Decrease in the number of wet nappies
How is diarrhoea treated?
According to Omarjee, if vomiting and diarrhoea have persisted for more than 4 to 6 hours, you should seek immediate medical attention for your child; if the disease occurs at night, go to the closest emergency facility.
Try to give your child fluids as soon as you can if they exhibit mild-to-moderate dehydration. Oral rehydration solutions are available from any pharmacy. Additionally, you can prepare your own at-home oral rehydration solution.
Omarjee advises following these steps to create your own at-home oral rehydration solution:
- Wash your hands thoroughly first. Prepare a fresh bottle or jug.
- You'll need salt, sugar, and pure water. The water may be boiled and then allowed to cool or bottled drinking water.
- Combine 6 level tablespoons of sugar and 2.5 ml (half a teaspoon) of salt.
- As soon as the salt and sugar have dissolved, add 1 litre of clean water and stir.
- Give 500 ml to babies every 24 hours. Children over 10 and adults should receive 3 litres of fluid per 24 hours, while children aged 2 to 9 should receive 1 litre.
As breast milk is a good fluid for rehydration, it's crucial to urge your infant to swallow modest amounts of the oral rehydration solution or to maintain your breastfeeding routine. If the infant is older than six months, Omarjee continued, “the child can be fed with milk and porridge as usual.”
When managing diarrhoea and vomiting, food isn't the top priority. “It's considerably more crucial to make sure your child consumes water to replenish lost fluids and electrolytes after every bout of diarrhoea.”
The goals of treatment for acute diarrhoea in children are to shorten the length of the disease, avoid or manage dehydration, prevent weight loss, promote catch-up development during recovery, and lessen the impact of the diarrhoea on the child's health.
“Breastfeeding, a clean, safe water supply, proper hand-washing, and excellent sanitation should help avoid most occurrences of diarrhoea,” advised Omarjee. Probiotics can help reduce the duration of diarrhoea and help prevent it from recurring again, according to numerous studies.
“Gut health is the state of the entire digestive system of the body, and it is essential for optimal health. Giving kids a probiotic on a regular basis could do a lot to improve their gut health and stave against illness and diarrhoea.”