More than 500 000 young children die from dehydration caused by severe diarrhea every year, globally. Although routine use of oral rehydration solution (ORS) could prevent almost all of these deaths, ORS utilization remains low in many low-income countries. Previous research has suggested that misperceptions among caregivers may be an obstacle to wider use of ORS.

The goal of a study published in the Journal of Global Health was to better understand the extent of ORS utilization and the reasons for use or non-use in low-resource settings.

This was a semi-structured, quantitative survey conducted by the project team in the year 2014, including 400 caregivers in Burkina Faso. All caregivers had a child below the age of five years, who had suffered diarrhea—lasting two days or more—over the past two months.

The findings revealed that although more than 80% of caregivers had knowledge of the benefits of ORS, less than half reported using it to treat their child’s diarrhea. Replacing fluids lost due to diarrhea was considered a low priority by most caregivers, while many considered antibiotics more effective for treating diarrhea. Whereas, users and non-users of ORS held substantially varied perceptions of the product, though all caregivers tended to follow recommendations of health care workers. A considerable proportion of the users reported difficulty in getting a child to drink ORS. In addition, costs and access to ORS were not found to be significant barriers to use.

It was concluded that misperceptions among caregivers and health workers contribute to low utilization of ORS. Better caregiver understanding of diarrheal disease and the importance of rehydration, along with increased recommendation by health workers, will help in increasing ORS utilization. Furthermore, improving product presentation and taste will also aid in encouraging ORS use and compliance.

Source: Journal of Global Health. 2016 Dec; 6(2): 020407. 2016 Sep 16. doi: 10.7189/jogh.06.020407