Impact of Selective Primary Care on Childhood Mortality in a Rural Health Zone of Zaire

Abstract

Following the introduction of intensified child survival activities, use of health services for children increased markedly: measles vaccination reached 74% of children aged 12-23 months, and the use of oral rehydration therapy for the treatment of diarrhoea had increased. During the same period, childhood mortality declined by 33% for children aged 1-4 years. Data on cases of measles in the local hospital reveals that the pattern of measles epidemics characteristic of the years preceding programme implementation was altered in the years following programme implementation. The mean annual number of inpatient measles cases declined from 108 before the programme to 36 after its start. The high correlation between the number of inpatient measles cases and mortality at ages 6-35 months suggests that the programme reduced mortality largely by reducing the incidence of measles. Primary health care activities, supported in part by the Combatting Childhood Communicable Diseases Project, is estimated to have reduced mortality at ages 6-35 months by at least the 18-23% associated with the change in the incidence of measles and may have been responsible for the full 28% reduction recorded between 1980-1984 and 1985-1989.