Oral Rehydration Therapy: An Assessment of Mortality Effects in Rural Egypt

Abstract

This study assesses the mortality impact of a diarrheal disease control prgram implemented in a delta governorate of Egypt (Menoufia). The program used a single-visit household education and distribution system backed by community-based resupply to promote oral rehydration therapy among rural mothers for management of childhood diarrhea. A sample of 12 villages was selected, 1/2 for treatment and 1/2 for control, to monitor child deaths and their cause distribution in the year following treatment. The program failed to lower diarrheal death rates among children under age 5 living in treatment villages (23.5/1000) as compared to those in control villages (21.1/1000). The intervention strategy was ineffective in altering the customary way in which mothers and health professionals treat childhood diarrhea.