Some of the world’s deadliest diseases affecting children are the easiest to cure
Every year, 6.3 million children under age five die from diseases that are preventable and treatable. That’s 17,000 children a day. In the world’s more remote regions, families can’t access lifesaving treatment in timely fashion. Clinics are often hours or even days away on foot.
Children swept up in violent conflict are even more vulnerable to disease, many forced into crowded camps without clean water or enough toilets, conditions that spread disease. During emergencies, medical supplies run low and health systems shut down.
The International Rescue Committee helps ensure children living in crisis areas get the treatment they need to lead healthy lives. In the last six years alone, IRC-trained volunteers have provided over 4 million treatments to sick children, and countless lives have been saved with basic hygiene and proper sanitation. Here’s a look at the three most devastating diseases among children under the age of five:
Pneumonia kills more children worldwide than any other illness — nearly 1 million every year.
This respiratory infection is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where families have limited access to health clinics and medicines. Symptoms such as fever, headaches and vomiting are often mistaken for less serious illnesses.
THE SIMPLE SOLUTION
Strings of colored beads help IRC-trained community health workers quickly diagnose pneumonia in children. By counting one bead for each breath a child takes during a one-minute interval, a health worker can tell when the child reaches the “danger zone” marked by specific colored beads corresponding to the child’s age, then administer a dose of the antibiotic amoxicillin and begin lifesaving treatment. The medicine is provided free.
Diarrhea is the second deadliest illness among children under five.
Following a natural disaster, many children drink polluted water or eat contaminated food, a deadly practice that kills 760,000 each year.
THE SIMPLE SOLUTION
Diarrhea causes severe dehydration, which is easily treated with zinc tablets and rehydration with clean water, salt and sugar. The treatment costs just 60 cents per treatment. Drinking chlorinated water and washing hands prevents the disease from spreading.
Malaria, the third deadliest disease among children under five, kills 482,000 annually — one child every 60 seconds.
Malaria is particularly damaging to pregnant women and their unborn children. If a mother contracts the disease, her newborn can die within the first few months of life. Poor communities in swampy areas are particularly at risk — rainy seasons provide an ideal environment for mosquitoes.
THE SIMPLE SOLUTION
Sleeping under an insecticide-treated mosquito net is one of the most cost-effective ways to keep malaria at bay, reducing deaths in children under five by 20 percent. Treatment for malaria is also inexpensive. Artemisinin-based combination therapy costs just 48 cents per treatment and cures most strains.
If you’d like to give to the IRC, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $200,000 by a generous IRC supporter, doubling your impact on children and families worldwide. Donate here.
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is at work in over 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities.
