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Diarrhoea Treatment

Zinc supplement can save 75,000 children's lives

Staff Correspondent
Scientists working on 'zinc supplement' for treatment of diarrhoea yesterday announced it can save the lives of 30,000 to 75,000 under-five children a year in Bangladesh both as a treatment for diarrhoeal illness and by preventing future infectious diseases.
Zinc treatment not only reduces the duration of diarrhoea but also prevents its recurrence and strengthens the immune system, they said.
On a global scale, zinc treatment could effectively prevent diarrhoeal diseases, saving the lives of some 400,000 children under five a year, thescientisls thought.
Disclosing the findings of their research at a press briefing in Dhaka, the scientists said zinc treatment reduces the severity and duration of diarrhoea as well as the likelihood of
its recurrence and the need for hospitalisation.
The researchers worked on management of childhood diarrhoea with the micronutrient for the last 24 years at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR.B).
The ICDDR,B's.research is supported by the WHO and Uniccf recommendations for use of zinc in the treatment of acute or persistent diarrhoea.
Leading child specialists also favoured zinc supplement saying it has many benefits.
National Professor and chief of the Institute of Child Health, Shishu Hospital, M R Khan was present as one of the panelists at tire briefing. "If zinc is taken with oral saline, it enhances 20 per cent chances of survival from diarrhoea," he observed.
The researchers also said zinc treatment seems to have a positive impact on pneumonia, which is another major cause of child mortality in developingcountries.
The WHO-Unicef recommendations for the treatment of diarrhoea include providing children with zinc for 10-14 days (20 mg a day for children aged six months to five years or 10 mg a day for children aged 2 to 6 months.
The ICDDR.B has developed a way to deliver the exact daily dosage of zinc in dispensable tablet form.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Social Marketing Company, Nutriset, Roedel Pharmaceutical Laboratories and Square Pharmaceuticals cooperated in the process.
The tablets are distributed in blister packs containing a complete course of treatment Low-cost blister pack will costTk 15 as against Tk30for the same dose in syrup form.