Hand washing day: ‘Clean hands can save millions of lives’

‘Most children pick up rotavirus that causes diarrhoea from feeders or toys’.

LAHORE:

Some 120 million children under the age of five die of acute diarrhoea caused by the rotavirus each year, most of them in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan. Improving cleanliness around children can help them avoid the disease, said Professor Ashraf Sultan in a talk in connection with World Hand Washing Day here on Monday.

Prof Sultan, who is chairman of the paediatrics department at King Edward Medical University and a member of the Asian Paediatric Society’s Infectious Diseases Standing Committee, said 85 per cent of rotavirus deaths occurred in underdeveloped countries. He said though there was no data on the number of deaths caused by the rotavirus in Pakistan, it was one of the biggest killers of children in the country.

He gave the audience various suggestions on good childcare practices to avoid the disease. He said many children picked up the disease from their feeders or through their toys.

“Up to the age of six months, feeding by the mother is the best feed. They shouldn’t even be given water. From six months to two years, they should be given mother’s milk and things like chicken soup, bananas and rice,” he said.

Prof Sultan said mothers should always wash their hands before feeding their kids. The rotavirus could also be picked up from other kids. “If a child is infected by rotavirus it can be discharged through secretions into the soil. Another kid exposed to that specific dust could contract the virus,” he said.

The virus, which usually causes illness for five to seven days, is incurable, he said. The first symptom to appear is usually vomiting, followed by diarrhoea. “Children don’t die of the virus, but due to a deficiency of minerals and food,” he said.

He said the best treatment was to give infected children ORS (oral rehydration solution) to ensure they keep getting a supply of essential minerals. “Drips shouldn’t be administered at first as they create other complications. Give the kids ORS along with some food. Careful management of patients over five or six days could save the millions of lives lost due to this virus,” he said.

Prof Sultan said a rotavirus vaccine was available, but it was quite expensive at Rs9,500 for two injections. “Proper sanitation, mother’s milk and proper cooked food are the keys to avoiding this virus,” he said.

‘Cleanliness next to Godliness’

Separately, a ceremony was arranged at the Wahdat Colony Government Pilot Secondary School to mark Hand Washing Day. In a speech on the occasion, Parliamentary Health Secretary Dr Saeed Elahi said that hand washing helped guard against dysentery, cholera and hepatitis as well as diarrhoea.

Dr Elahi said that Islam laid great emphasis on cleanliness. He said that it was essential to train children and grown ups as to the correct method for hand washing.

World Health Organisation representative Dr Babar Alam said that Hand Washing Day was observed in more than 100 countries every year on October 15. He said that women must wash their hands before preparing meals or feeding their children. He said that it was not essential to use soap in each wash, but it was beneficial.

He said that promoting hand washing was essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the child mortality rate by 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.