I thought I'd start off this post w/ a memorable jingle my fellow colleague, Wendy, came up with. Though it is funny, diarrhea is no joking manner. Diarrhea is a disease which kills an astonishing 1.6 million children under 5 every year, according to the World Health Organization. The disease kills more children than either malaria or AIDS, stunts growth, and forces millions — adults and children alike — to spend weeks at a time off work or school, which hits both a country's economy and its citizens' chances of a better future. With that being said, diarrhea is much more than an issue that makes you go to the restroom frequently...it has a serious affect on people's lives. There have been many advancements in the treatment of diarrhea. To illustrate, there are anti-diarrheals, which are, drugs used to treat persistent diarrhea. The two chief antidiarrheal medications are bismuth subsalicylate and loperamide. Another medication called diphenoxylate is also commonly used. Though these are good medicines, the people of Africa and Asia can't afford it b/c it's too expensive. So the question is...what do they do? Do they just sit around and let this epidemic continue to kill their people? or Do they look for medicines that are COST EFFICIENT and work just as WELL as the antidiarrheals? Well, their answer came a couple years ago. It came in the form of a tablet or syrup. What was its name? Zinc.
Over the past few years, a handful of aid organizations and governments — including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development — have begun distributing zinc supplements to villagers in Bangladesh, India, Mali and Pakistan. Several other groups are working with governments in Africa to introduce zinc. In Mali, Save the Children U.S. used $680,000 from a 2007 charity concert of American Idol to distribute zinc tablets to a handful of villages in the south of the country. So far, the small programs have drawn little attention. But their impact has been dramatic. Zinc pills appear to halt diarrhea in its tracks. "Before, we were terrified when children's stomachs began running, because we knew some of them would die," says Sata Djialla in the Malian village of Morola. "Now our children are not dying of diarrhea."
With that being said, isn't it great when we have a breakthroughs in medicine. Who would have thought a zinc tablet a day would make such a big difference in the lives of others. That goes to show you that it's not the size that matters it's how you use it.
To read more about zinc and how it's used to treat diarrhea, check out this article entitled: Diarrhea: The Great Zinc Breakthrough and for pictures showing how zinc is helping treat clients w/ diarrhea in different African communities, check out this link: Taming a Devastating Illness With A Simple Pill
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