title: Cereal-based oral rehydration therapy. II. Strategic issues for its implementation in national diarrheal disease control programs.
abstract: Field studies in Bangladesh demonstrated that after proper training, village mothers were able to prepare and use rice-based, salt-enriched oral rehydration solutions containing safe concentrations of sodium, and were capable of achieving significantly fewer treatment failures and a reduction in the duration of diarrhea than with glucose-based oral rehydration solutions (ORS). An additional longitudinal study showed that improved growth and weight gain occurred with the consistent use of ORS; the effect was greater when rice-based ORS were used. In addition, the following possible limitations and benefits of cereal-based oral rehydration therapy, which are relevant to the strategies for its implementation in national diarrheal disease control programs, are discussed: safety, osmolarity, hypernatremia, spoiling, effectiveness, rehydration ability, reduction in diarrhea volume and duration, nutritional effects, effect on food intake, acceptance and usage by care givers, training of health workers, self-reliance of families, effect on other child survival activities, costs, potential problems in changing to cereal-based ORS, and the role of industrial production in packaged cereal-based ORS.
authors.affiliation: International Child Health Foundation, Columbia, Maryland, 21044.
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Greenough
authors.lastname: Khin-Maung-U
mesh_terms: D001459:Bangladesh; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D004349:Drug Packaging; D005947:Glucose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012275:Oryza; D015532:Rehydration Solutions / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D015532:Rehydration Solutions; D005947:Glucose