Many children are not benefiting from simple live-saving treatments for diarrhoea, the second leading cause of death of children aged under five years, according to a paperpublished on Thursday in the international public health journal, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Every year around 1.5 million children die of the consequences of diarrhoea – severe dehydration and fluid loss. In 2004 WHO and UNICEF recommended two low-cost treatments that have the potential to reduce more than three quarters of all diarrhoea deaths: a new formulation of oral rehydration salts and the use of zinc supplements. “Unfortunately, despite the evidence, an extremely small number of children in developing countries have access to these two simple and inexpensive treatments,” says co-author Dr Robert E Black from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States of America. Some countries are struggling to develop local supplies of the products, others are slow to change their policies. “Of 68 priority countries only 22 had zinc available and coverage within those countries was often quite limited. Ranked by leading global economists as the most cost-effective intervention for advancing human development, zinc supplementation in diarrhoea management should be a top global health priority,” he says. The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is one of the world’s leading public health journals. It is the flagship periodical of the World Health Organization (WHO), with a special focus on developing countries. Articles are peer-reviewed and are independent of WHO guidelines. Source: WHO