A new study published in Journal of the International Society of Nutrition estimated the potential impact of scaling up various community-level interventions on child mortality in five East African Community (EAC) countries. 

In this modelling study, ten preventive and curative community-level interventions were identified –to reduce child mortality. These were, breastfeeding promotion, complementary feeding, vitamin A supplementation, use of zinc in the treatment of diarrhea, hand washing with soap, hygienic disposal of stools, oral rehydration solution (ORS), oral antibiotics for treatment of pneumonia, treatment for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), prevention of malaria using insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying (ITN/IRS). 

The results showed that ideal scale-up of the ten interventions could prevent approximately 74,200 child deaths by 2030. In fact, the top four interventions – oral antibiotics for pneumonia, ORS, hand washing with soap, and treatment for MAM, could cause about 75% of all deaths prevented in each EAC country.

It was concluded that scaling up interventions that can be delivered at community level by community health workers could contribute to substantial reduction of child mortality in EAC and could help the EAC region achieve child health-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target. 

Source: Journal of the International Society of Nutrition. 2021 Mar 15;18(1):22. doi:10.1186/s12970-021-00414-8.