![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
Abstract
Diarrhea in young children is still a major health problem in developing countries, despite the worldwide commitment to the goal of “Health for All by the Year 2000.”
Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT), environmental upgrading, and mass immunization are the major strategies which have been broadly utilized to manage diarrhea These strategies often have been singularly unsuccessful or only partially successful because health education of the local people has not been included in the intervention package.
Health education, either alone or in conjunction with other types of programs to manage diarrhea, is essential and ultimately can be more effective in reducing the prevalence and morbidity of diarrheal diseases than other programs used singularly.
The health education program we introduced to control diarrhea in an Australian Aboriginal community was successful. As a result of the intervention, significant decreases were observed in the proportion of Aboriginal children under five years of age with diarrhea, the average number of diarrhea episodes per child, and the incidence of hospitalization due to diarrhea. Critical factors for the success of this health education program are discussed.