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| Friday, 13 August 2004 |
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by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy South group corr. Every year around 5.2 million children die before their fifth birthday in the South East Asian countries according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Nearly three million of these deaths are caused by diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections (ARI), malaria, measles and malnutrition, which represents about 40 per cent of the deaths in the world caused by these diseases. Frequently, a combination of these disease conditions is responsible for untimely deaths. Besides the high mortality, childhood morbidity places a great burden on the meagre resources available for health care in health centres, hospitals and private clinics. Therefore, an integrated and holistic approach to child health is important in the treatment of sick children to prevent deaths, said Head of the World Health Organisation in Sri Lanka Dr. Denham Pole. He made these observations addressing the 8th annual scientific congress of the Sri Lanka College of paediatricians which began at the Plant Genetic Resource Centre at Gannoruwa on Wednesday. It will conclude on August 14. Dr. Pole said that the Annual Academic Sessions of the College of Paediatricians of Sri Lanka has now evolved and emerged as an important event in the medical academic calendar of the country. Sri Lanka has achieved excellent progress in child health and now can boast of the lowest infant, child and adolescent mortality rates in the South East Asia Region. While many institutions and policies have contributed to this state of affairs, the role played by successive generations of dedicated and skilled paediatricians has been probably the most significant. All could be justly proudly of this situation, he said. He said that the quality of our lives is affected by many factors by infection and disease, by the socio-economic conditions, and equally by the environment in which we live and develop. Dr. Pole said that in the recent years momentous changes have influenced lives and thinkging in many way. 'The world is fast moving from fragmented countries and cultures towards becoming a global village. It is also urbanising rapidly. The value systems are changing. No one has been left untouched by the economic liberalisation, media explosion and advances taking place in most countries,' he said. Dr. Pole further said while a holistic approach to children's health is advocated, with every effort made towards an integrated approach, the health miniseries in every country have to take a leading role. They must seek out and encourage multi sectoral partnerships and ensure that they design specific need based programmes to address the problems of children and youth. They need to create linkages with other sectors such as education, employment, social welfare and the criminal justice as well as non governmental organisations. They also must provide child friendly services that are accessible, confidential and flexible. This can be done through modification of existing service delivery systems. Civil society groups and academic bodies such as the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians can make a contribution to make this happen to the optimum extent. 'You need to engage yourselves in the policy issues, the education and service issues, as well as the major research issues in this regard', he said. The welcome address was made the President of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians Prof. Ananda S. B. Wijekoon and the vote of thanks was given by the Secretary SLCP Dr. A. S. Abeygunawardena. |
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