Synthesizing evidence for improving child health in India

Abstract

Historically, research and evidence have played a significant role in designing interventions for improving child health. Research on cholera patients in Bangladesh leading to development of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) is one of the most illuminating examples of the contribution of research to a potent public health intervention that has saved many children’s lives since then [1]. Similarly, identification of the hand-pump as the source of a cholera outbreak in London led to strategies to the control of one of the most feared scourges in the history of mankind [2]. However, the coverage of many such interventions remains low among populations that most need them. For example, extending the ORS example, only 43% of children with diarrhea received ORS in the last two weeks in India [3]. There is also a growing apprehension that with increasing integration of programs, the focus on expanding coverage of specific interventions has reduced, leading to dwindling coverage of the known interventions. As a result, decline in child mortality in India remains slow, not sufficient to meet the commitments of Eleventh Five Year Plan or to achieve the Millennium Development Goal.