Diarrhea is the third biggest killer of children under five years of age in Zambia (40 per day; 15,000 each year), and rotavirus, the most common cause of severe and fatal diarrhea in young children, is responsible for nearly a third of those deaths. As in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest rates of rotavirus mortality worldwide, rotavirus contributes heavily to the tremendous drain on the health and economic resources in Zambia:
- Approximately 41% of young children hospitalized for severe diarrhea are infected with rotavirus.
- An estimated 4,506 children under age five die from rotavirus diarrhea annually.
Vaccines are the best way to protect children in Zambia and the rest of the world from severe rotavirus diarrhea and the deadly dehydrating diarrhea that it causes.
Rotavirus vaccines play an essential and lifesaving role in comprehensive diarrhea control strategies and are already saving lives and improving health in the countries where they are in use. A coordinated approach that combines rotavirus vaccines with other prevention and treatment methods, including oral rehydration therapy, zinc, breastfeeding, improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene as well as proper nutrition, will achieve the greatest impact on diarrheal disease morbidity and mortality.
Earlier this week, an innovative, multisectoral partnership between the Zambian Ministry of Health (MoH), the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), and Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) launched the Programme for Awareness and Elimination of Diarrhoea (PAED) to strengthen Zambia’s capacity to provide comprehensive diarrheal disease prevention and treatment strategies, including the introduction of rotavirus vaccines in the capital, Lusaka, to reduce the huge number of child deaths from diarrhea.
