Health Facts-2: “Diarrhoea"

1. Every 30 seconds, a child dies of diarrhea in India.
2. According to the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, there are about 6,00,000 diarrhoeal deaths among children annually in India.
3. The highest mortality from diarrhoea occurs in children under the age of five, highlighting an urgent need for focused interventions to prevent diarrhoeal deaths in India.
4. Diarrhoea is more lethal than war and kills two times as many people.
5. Washing hands with soap and water reduces the risk of diarrhoeal diseases by 47%.

Excerpts from “Be Germ Free” in the Sunday Magazine of The Hindu, April 3, 2005.

Wikipedia articles on:

“Diarrhoea”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea

“Foodborne Diseases”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodborne_illness

“Oral Rehydration Therapy”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy

“Mortality Rate”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.