Excerpts
Cross posted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" <health-vn@anu.edu.au>,
"[Water and Sanitation WG]" watsan-wg@ngocentre.org.vn
http://www.wateraid.org/documents/plugin_documents/wateraid_fatal_neglect.pdf
"Diarrheal Disease: Solutions to Defeat a Global Killer" may be downloaded at:
http://www.eddcontrol.org/files/Solutions_to_Defeat_a_Global_Killer.pdf
Donors urged to tackle leading killer of under-fives - reports
REUTERS/Natasha Elkington
Two major aid agency reports published this week say millions of children's lives are being put at risk because governments and the international aid community are not responding appropriately to diseases such as diarrhoea. "Diarrhoea kills more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB combined, yet compared to these diseases receives little financing and is not prioritized by governments in donor and developing country governments alike," said Oliver Cumming, co-author of a report by Water Aid.
The report shows that between 2004 and 2006 only $1.5 billion was spent Globally on improving sanitation. In the same period, $10.8 billion was spent on interventions for HIV/AIDS - responsible for 315,000 child deaths in that period, and $3.5 billion on interventions for malaria - responsible for 840,000 child deaths.
HEALTHCARE
A health worker in the only government-run clinic in Kibera said diarrhoea was a major problem in the slum, which is home to over one million of Kenya's poor. It's easy to see why - toilets are holes in the ground and many are overflowing.
Most clinics in the slum were private and the majority of people could not afford the fees. The lack of roads, lighting and poor security also made it difficult to reach a doctor, particularly if a child fell sick in the middle of the night.
BURDEN
Another report "Diarrheal Disease: Solutions to Defeat a Global Killer" by health advocacy group PATH, speculates that in the 1970s and 1980s awareness-raising and fund-raising for tackling the problem were so successful that the mortality rate fell by almost 50 percent. It says many donors, governments and aid agencies may have considered the problem solved.
But the issue is far from solved. Water Aid says that when taking into account adult deaths, funding for HIV/AIDS is balanced, but when considering child deaths, the large resources for fighting the disease are disproportionate. Both reports highlight that relatively cheap fixes can be effective – for example educating people to wash their hands, using water purifiers and disinfectants and taking rehydration salts for diarrhoea.
But the aid community is not devoting sufficient funds or attention to the problem, the reports say.
The Kenyan government is working with aid groups to educate the public on good hygiene, improve water chlorination and provide communities with water purifiers and disinfectants. But the financial burden is high, says Kenya's Health Minister Shahnaaz Sharif.
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http://www.wateraid.org/uk/about_us/newsroom/7655.asp
Second biggest killer of under-fives being ignored
The report argues that a major cause of child mortality is being neglected.
Credit: WaterAid / Layton Thompson
The international health agenda is failing to save the lives of millions of children by not responding appropriately to causes of child deaths, according to a new WaterAid report released today. Hard-hitting figures published in the report reveal that the aid system is not responding rationally to disease burden. Despite diarrhoea being the second biggest killer of children, critical interventions to prevent these deaths attract a dismal amount of international aid.
In 2004, diarrhoea killed 1.8 million children, yet between 2004-2006 only $1.5 billion was spent globally on improved sanitation – vital in the fight to protect children from diarrhoea.
In the same period, $10.8 billion was spent on interventions for HIV/AIDS (responsible for 315,000 child deaths), and $3.5 billion on those for malaria (responsible for 840,000 child deaths). [see graph below]
The report stresses that the aid system must continue to tackle diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS but calls for a comparable effort to address diarrhoea.
'Fatal neglect: How health systems are failing to comprehensively address child mortality' argues that to reduce under-five deaths by two-thirds and therefore meet Millennium Development Goal Four, the aid system must target its resources to diseases that are killing the most children – such as diarrhoea – and focus on providing cost-effective interventions such as improved sanitation that can prevent these diseases.
Fatal Neglect shows that the global imbalance of aid allocations is matched at the national level in developing countries. The report calls for national health challenges, rather than international campaigns to determine the allocation of aid:
In Zambia, the Ministry of Health notes that "over 80% of the health
Conditions presented at health institutions are diseases related to poor environmental sanitation." Yet environmental health receives just one eighth of the funding provided for malaria, a disease which kills a similar number of children to diarrhoea. In Madagascar, UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) found the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS was too small to estimate, whereas diarrhoeal diseases kill 14,000 children every year. Yet HIV/AIDS received five times more aid than sanitation between 2004-6. Rwanda has a 3% AIDS infection rate, but in 2005 almost 75% of donor assistance for health was for HIV/AIDS and only 2% for health care services for childhood illnesses. "Disease burden is not informing aid decisions," said Cumming. "Donors need to take a long hard look at their financing and priorities and see if it actually matches the reality on the ground."
The report also warns that by neglecting sanitation, the effectiveness of current health systems is being reduced.
WaterAid Policy Officer, Report co-author Oliver Cumming
WaterAid Executive Director, Barbara Frost
WaterAid Programme Manager, Advocacy and Communications, Zambia, Nancy
Mukumbuta
chloeirvine@wateraid.org
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