{"id":34937,"date":"2017-06-02T16:24:45","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T16:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/global-diarrhoea-deaths-down-by-a-third\/"},"modified":"2017-06-02T16:25:24","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T16:25:24","slug":"global-diarrhoea-deaths-down-by-a-third","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/global-diarrhoea-deaths-down-by-a-third\/","title":{"rendered":"Global diarrhoea deaths down by a third"},"content":{"rendered":"

{The number of children dying worldwide of diarrhoea fell by a third between 2005 and 2015, researchers have found.}<\/p>\n

The Lancet study says better access to clean water and sanitation is key, with fewer weak and malnourished children becoming infected.<\/p>\n

New vaccines have also had a positive impact.<\/p>\n

However, diarrhoea is still the fourth-biggest killer of children globally, with almost 500,000 a year dying before their fifth birthday.<\/p>\n

This figure could well be a significant under-estimate because of the lack of data in sub-Saharan Africa, where most cases occur.<\/p>\n

{{Preventable and treatable}}<\/p>\n

Diarrhoea is also indirectly responsible for large numbers of deaths, through exacerbating the effects of other diseases, such as pneumonia and measles.<\/p>\n

The US researchers, who analysed data from the new Global Burden of Disease study, found well over a third (42%) of deaths happen in Nigeria and India.
\nDiarrhoeal diseases, such as rotavirus and cholera, are spread by water contaminated with faeces. They are preventable and treatable.<\/p>\n

“Diarrhoeal diseases disproportionately affect young children,” said lead author Dr Ali Mokdad, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.<\/p>\n

“Despite some promising reductions in mortality, the devastating impact of these diseases cannot be overlooked.”<\/p>\n

{{Diarrhoea cases in 2015}}<\/p>\n

2.39 billion episodes of diarrhoea<\/p>\n

Almost half of those (957.5 million) involved children.<\/p>\n

1.3 million deaths<\/p>\n

Including 499,000 child deaths<\/p>\n

The highest death rates were in Chad and Niger<\/p>\n

Source: Lancet<\/p>\n

{{World Health Organization: Diarrhoea}}<\/p>\n

While deaths from diarrhoea have dropped by just over 20% overall, and 34% in children, the rate of infection has been falling far more slowly.<\/p>\n

For children it dropped by just over 10% between 2005 and 2015.<\/p>\n

Of all the diarrhoeal diseases, rotavirus remains the biggest killer of under-fives, according to this study.<\/p>\n

But death rates for the disease were down by 44% in 2015.<\/p>\n

The researchers attribute much of this to a relatively new vaccine.<\/p>\n

{{‘Unacceptable’}}<\/p>\n

“We’re encouraged to see fewer children dying of diarrhoea,” said Yael Velleman, senior policy analyst on health and hygiene at WaterAid.<\/p>\n

“But it is unacceptable that diarrhoea still claims the lives of nearly half a million children under five each year.<\/p>\n

“Up to 50% of under-nutrition is linked to chronic infection, diarrhoea and worm infestation caused by dirty water and poor hygiene.”<\/p>\n

She said those children’s life chances were limited by preventable illness – “all for the lack of conditions we have been taking for granted in the UK for over 100 years”.<\/p>\n

{{How to prevent diarrhoea}}<\/p>\n

Access to safe drinking-water<\/p>\n

Improved sanitation<\/p>\n

Hand washing with soap<\/p>\n

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life<\/p>\n

Good personal and food hygiene<\/p>\n

Education about how infections spread<\/p>\n

Rotavirus vaccination<\/p>\n

\"India<\/figure>\n

Source:BBC <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{The number of children dying worldwide of diarrhoea fell by a third between 2005 and 2015, researchers have found.} The Lancet study says better access to clean water and sanitation is key, with fewer weak and malnourished children becoming infected. New vaccines have also had a positive impact. However, diarrhoea is still the fourth-biggest killer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-34937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34937"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=34937"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=34937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}