Emergency Management of Common Diseases in Children

Acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and fever are very common in children below the age of five years. All children suffer from these illnesses several times each year. However, during natural disasters like floods children are even more vulnerable to these diseases and death. Pneumonia, diarrhea, measles and malaria, and associated malnutrition, are responsible for over 60% deaths in children under five. During an emergency the proportion of children dying of the above mentioned diseases may be higher. It is possible for health workers to treat most sick children at health camps or in the community and save them from dying. This survey describes the steps to be followed by a health worker when managing a sick child in emergency situations.