TY - JOUR
T1 - Diarrhoeal disease, oral rehydration, and childhood mortality in rural Egypt
AU - Langsten, Ray
AU - Hill, Kenneth
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grants from the Egyptian National Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases Program and Child Survival Program to the American University in Cairo, and by a grant from USAID to the Johns Hopkins University. Thanks are due to Drs Robert Black and Petra Osinski for useful comments on an earlier draft.
PY - 1994/10
Y1 - 1994/10
N2 - The Egyptian National Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases Project (NCDDP) is reported to have had great success in improving case management of diarrhoea, and in reducing diarrhoea-related mortality among children, while deaths due to other causes have remained unchanged. Recent reports have claimed that with this dramatic decline in diarrhoea mortality, respiratory infection is now the main cause of child death in Egypt. As a result, the degree of commitment to control of diarrhoeal disease activities has been greatly reduced. We present new data from a large prospective study that confirms much of the success of the NCDDP, but which questions the extent of the claimed project impact on mortality. Child mortality has declined greatly over the past decade. However, deaths from other causes have declined almost as much as those from diarrhoea, and most importantly, diarrhoea remains the main cause of death among children. Our discussion demonstrates the need for appropriate methodology in evaluating the mortality impact of an intervention, and to the very great importance of reinvigorating control of diarrhoeal diseases activities in Egypt.
AB - The Egyptian National Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases Project (NCDDP) is reported to have had great success in improving case management of diarrhoea, and in reducing diarrhoea-related mortality among children, while deaths due to other causes have remained unchanged. Recent reports have claimed that with this dramatic decline in diarrhoea mortality, respiratory infection is now the main cause of child death in Egypt. As a result, the degree of commitment to control of diarrhoeal disease activities has been greatly reduced. We present new data from a large prospective study that confirms much of the success of the NCDDP, but which questions the extent of the claimed project impact on mortality. Child mortality has declined greatly over the past decade. However, deaths from other causes have declined almost as much as those from diarrhoea, and most importantly, diarrhoea remains the main cause of death among children. Our discussion demonstrates the need for appropriate methodology in evaluating the mortality impact of an intervention, and to the very great importance of reinvigorating control of diarrhoeal diseases activities in Egypt.
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U2 - 10.1093/tropej/40.5.272
DO - 10.1093/tropej/40.5.272
M3 - Article
C2 - 7807621
AN - SCOPUS:0028089820
SN - 0142-6338
VL - 40
SP - 272
EP - 278
JO - Journal of tropical pediatrics
JF - Journal of tropical pediatrics
IS - 5
ER -