Union Health Minister launches Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight – 2022 aimed at zero child deaths due to childhood diarrhoea

What is the News?

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare has launched the Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF)-2022.

What is the status of Diarrhoea among Children in India?

According to the Sample Registration System(SRS) 2019 report, the Child Mortality Rate in the country has come down considerably since 2014.

This rate has come down from 45 per 1,000 live births in 2014 to 35 per 1,000 live births in 2019. 

But even today, diseases related to diarrhoea continue to be a major cause of death in children under the age of five.

Dehydration is the biggest cause of diarrhoea in children followed by the change in a baby’s diet, use of antibiotics or some kind of bacterial or parasitic infection.

Why is there still a high prevalence of Diarrhoea in Children?

According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS), only 60.6% of children under the age of five with diarrhoea were given Oral Rehydration Solutions(ORS) and only 30.5% were given zinc, suggesting a lack of awareness among mothers.

What is Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight – 2022(IDFC)?

IDCF has been organized since 2014 with the objective of ‘bringing the number of deaths due to diarrhoea in childhood to zero’. 

Purpose: IDCF consists of a set of activities to be implemented in an intensified manner for the prevention and control of deaths due to dehydration from diarrhoea across all states and UTs.

These activities mainly include 1) Intensification of advocacy and awareness generation activities for diarrhoea management, 2) Strengthening service provision for diarrhoea case management, 3) Establishment of ORS-Zinc corners, 4) Prepositioning of ORS by ASHA in households with under-five children and 5) Awareness generation activities for hygiene and sanitation.

Source: The post is based on the article “Union Health Minister launches Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight – 2022 aimed at zero child deaths due to childhood diarrhoea” published in PIB on 13th June 2022.