[Blog post] The Most Important Question in Global Child Health Today: Why are 3 Million Children Dying from Two Diseases we know how to Prevent and Treat?
One of the biggest challenges in global health is matching resources to the areas where the most lives can be saved.
It is a very serious problem, because resources are always scarce, and when they are not targeted to those areas where the most good can be done, the opportunity cost is measured in lives lost. No single issue frustrates me more than this one, because it is a failure of information, easily corrected, that is causing millions of human lives, mostly children under 5, to be lost every year.
[Blog post] Next stop, Vietnam!
This week, PATH is co-hosting a symposium – along with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and Vietnam’s National Pediatric Hospital – on the importance of taking an integrated approach to defeating diarrheal disease.
The gathering will bring together health professionals from around the Mekong Delta region.
[Blog post] Hope in Kenya
In the village of Kamusinga, Kenya, parents learn about basic diarrheal disease prevention strategies from a community health volunteer.
Memories of my stay in the bustling border town of Busia, Kenya, fill me with optimism. Last October, I journeyed to Kenya to document PATH’s exciting work and to explore ways to inspire people in the field to be advocates for child health. I saw doctors being trained in new diarrhea treatment protocol, mothers educated on basic prevention, and an increasing number of fathers committed to participating in the health of their children. But what I think about most often is my introduction to a little girl who shares my name, just before she came into the world.
[Blog post] It's not just about poo. It's about you.
It’s been a year since defeatDD was born. Back then, I blogged about how diarrhea was often a joke at the party, but less often a serious contender for action in the world of global health. Over the past year, I’ve started to think maybe I was wrong, at least a little bit. Thanks to our cadre of generous bloggers, we’ve learned a lot here at defeatDD about the great work that is going on around the world in order to, well, cut the crap.
[Blog post] Saving lives from far away: Alfred's top 5 list
How can we make an impact on child health in far-away countries for those of us who are working from our desks in the US?
We think this is an incredibly important question, and so do our Facebook friends. In fact, when we recently interviewed Alfred Ochola, our DD program implementer in Western Kenya, one of you asked Alfred for his thoughts on the matter. Here’s what he had to say:
This question is fundamental to child survival and therefore needs more than a one-line answer or solution. The following points may help:
[Blog post] Zinc in Vietnam: from policy to practice
In July, zinc for the treatment of diarrhea was officially listed as an essential drug by the Ministry of Health in Vietnam. This capped a two year effort of policy consultations, evidence review and advocacy. As a result of this listing, by law, zinc must now be made available free of charge to children under five through both the public sector and the private insurance systems. This should tremendously increase the coverage and availability of this critical intervention.
[Blog post] Join up, Scale up, Save lives
Call it what you will: joining up or combining interventions, integration or disaggregation. Whatever you call it, it is essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and to alleviating poverty and disease.
[Blog post] Contemplating food
Like most people, I adore food. I love that one of my first daily responsibilities (to myself and to all around me) is to eat a large, healthy breakfast (followed swiftly by my morning coffee). Beyond just satisfying my taste buds, it’s what the doctor orders for a healthy metabolism and body function – and who am I to argue?
[Blog post] Part of the action yet slightly apart: Witnessing DD control in Vietnam
A young inpatient recovers from severe diarrhea, a bandage on his small hand the remnant of emergency IV rehydration.
By the second open-air hospital, I knew better than to look for water fountains. The sealed plastic bottles conspicuously tucked into each cup-holder in our Ministry-provided, four-wheel-driven convoy were a pretty strong hint, too. Where we were headed, running water was a luxury. This was not my norm. I was a stranger here, warmly welcomed but still alien.
[Data] Diarrhoea: Why Children Are Still Dying and What Can Be Done
Authors: UNICEF and WHO
Published: October 14, 2009