Child Care: 5 Most Common Diseases Affecting Children Under 5 Years

Nigeria is the second largest
contributor of childhood mortality in
the world and over 2,000 under 5
children die daily in Nigeria. The
reason is not far-fetched, during
childhood, the immune system is still
developing hence most diseases that
are rarely fatal in adulthood tend to
cause severe disease and death in
children. In this article, we are going
to discuss 5 most common diseases
affecting children under 5 years.
1. Acute diarrheal disease
In Nigeria, the tropics and in other
less developed nations of the world,
diarrheal disease remains the leading
cause of morbidity and mortality in
children. It is estimated that about 1.3
million episodes and 4 million deaths
occur each year in under-fives. Acute
diarrhea results in death within few
hours of onset if proper health care is
not given to such children. It causes
death by dehydration from excessive
loss of fluids (vomiting and passage of
loose watery faeces) which leads to
hypovolaemia and electrolyte
derangement.
Certain household behavior and
practices increases the risk of
diarrhea disease in children. These
include: Failure to breast feed
exclusively for the first 6 months of
life, using infant feeding bottles,
storing cooked food at room
temperature, drinking water that is
contaminated with fecal bacteria,
failure to observe the rules of hygiene
such as; failure to wash hands after
defecation and improper disposal of
feaces (including infant feaces)
hygienically.
2. Respiratory tract infection
Respiratory tract infection is another
common disease affecting children but
it has received far less attention when
compared to other diseases.
Statistically, it is the second cause of
death in children less than 5 years
worldwide and more than 80% of such
deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. It
is caused by bacteria or viruses that
gain access into the airway including
the lungs. This can be via direct
inhalation or by the spread of the
micro-organism to the lungs via blood
from distant organs. When this occurs,
there is sudden onset difficulty in
breathing, cough, fever, dehydration,
inability of the lungs to exchange O2
for CO2 effectively hence respiratory
failure occurs.
It is currently advocated that all
children with difficulty in breathing
and cough must see a physician for
proper assessment and treatment
3. Malaria
Malaria an infectious disease caused
by plasmodium spp and spread by
anopheles mosquito. The vector that
transmits malaria is distributed
worldwide but more in the tropics and
subtropics and about 40% of world
population lives in malaria endemic
areas. Statistically, about 300 -500
million clinical cases are seen per
year, with more than 80% occurring
in Africa alone. Furthermore, it causes
about 0.7 – 2.5million death per year
mainly in Nigeria and tropical Africa.
Common symptoms of malaria are
fever, vomiting, anorexia, nausea,
abdominal pain and distension,
refusal of feeds and most often can
lead to convulsions. It is important
that all children with high temperature
and any symptoms suggestive of
malaria should be taken immediately
to a hospital for proper assessment
and treatment.
4. Measles
Measles is a highly contagious disease
that mainly affects children less than
5 years of age. It occurs suddenly and
is characterized by the presence of
respiratory disease with koplik’s spots
which are eruptions on the
membranes that covers the gums and
the mouth. About 1 million children
die of measles each year. The problem
is worst in sub-Saharan Africa, which
has the highest incidence, the highest
mortality and the lowest vaccine
coverage in the world. It is a droplet-
born infection, thriving at low
humidity. Thus it spreads during the
dry season when Africans don’t travel,
resulting in devastating outbreaks
with a peculiarly high morbidity and
mortality compared to industrialized
countries.
Measles is a preventable disease
because of the wide availability of
measles vaccine given to children
between the ages of 9-11 months. This
alone is highly effective in reducing
the childhood death caused by
measles.
5. HIV/ AIDS
Because of the prevalence of HIV/
AIDS, thousands and millions of new
infection occurs in children every
year because of poor health facilities,
lack of skilled manpower, distance
from nearest health facility, poor
adherence to drugs by mothers and
poor health seeking behavior. More
than 95% of HIV infection in children
below 5 years is as a result of
maternal transfer of the virus which
can occur during pregnancy,
childbirth or via breast milk.
In Africa, Prevention of Mother to
Child Transmission (PMTCT), a
Package of care given to pregnant
women, their families and
communities, aimed at preventing
transmission of HIV from mothers to
their babies was designed and
implemented in all health facilities
with the sole aim of reducing the
incidence of this dreaded disease in
children. In this package, women are
encouraged to abstain from casual sex
and use condoms consistently and
correctly. For women who are already
infected, a unique care and delivery
protocol has been designed for them
and this has shown to be 99%
effective in reducing the transmission
of HIV from infected mothers to their
children.