27,000 kids from MP succumb to diarrhoea every year: National Health Mission

INDORE: A top National Health Mission (NHM) official said here today that nearly 27,000 children succumb to diarrhoea every year in Madhya Pradesh due to lack of awareness about the disease.

"We lose nearly 27,000 infants to diarrhoea every year in Madhya Pradesh. There was lack of awareness regarding it and people harbour wrong notions to treat it as well," NHM's MP Director Faiz Ahmed Kidwai said at a media workshop organised by UNICEF here.

He said that the wrong notion of treating diarrhoea was prevalent in rural areas, especially tribal-dominated settlements. In such areas, he said that people stop feeding their infants after their kids experience frequent bowel movements, which worsens the condition.

In the absence of feeding, children's bodies become devoid of water and fluid.

Kidwai that Madhya Pradesh was home to one crore infants adding that Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) to spread awareness regarding diarrhoea are going to make door-to-door visit.

He said that these workers plan to spread awareness regarding prevention and treatment of the disease and distribute Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) packets.

These workers would also dispel the wrong notion of treatment prevalent among rural and tribal folk, he said.

He said that diarrhoea accounts for 11 per cent deaths of infants in India. Kidwai said that Madhya Pradesh is among the states which account for large number of infants' deaths.