By Allison Kozicharow; Edited by Elizabeth Fine
WiRED International just added a new module called Advanced Rehydration and Diarrheal Disease Management module to our resource library.
If you live in a country where medical services are available and health infrastructures are strong, then dehydration or diarrhea are not normally life threatening. Not so in underserved countries, where these health conditions result from bacterial infections in unsafe water. According to the World Health Organization, 2.1 billion people (one in four) lack access to safe drinking water. Lack of both proper handwashing and adequate sanitation also factor into diarrheal diseases.
WiRED’s new module is designed for healthcare professionals such as community health workers (CHWs) and explains the following:
- How dehydration occurs
- How to assess its severity
- How to treat it using oral rehydration treatment (ORT)
- How to correctly prepare and administer oral rehydration solution (ORS).
Further, the module emphasizes that ORT is a life-saving, first-line treatment for fluid and electrolyte loss — especially from diarrhea — and provides practical guidance for both clinical care and low-resource settings, including homemade solutions when commercial ORS is unavailable.
What are ORT and ORS? ORT is a highly effective treatment for dehydration and easy to administer. ORT is especially productive in treating dehydration caused by infectious diseases such as cholera and other diarrheal illnesses. ORS involves drinking a solution made from clean water, and, in carefully measured quantities, sugar and salts. These ingredients help the body rapidly absorb fluids and essential electrolytes lost during illness.
The ORT/ORS process is simple to use yet many people are unaware of how to dispense it correctly. For example, WiRED is currently on the ground in Kisumu, Kenya. On the plane outbound, the team met a nutrition specialist on her way to help with malnutrition training. She knew about ORT, but only about the commercially prepared ORT packs, which are never available. She hadn’t known about the existence of a homemade version, described in WiRED’s Rehydration module!
Now, CHWs and other medical professionals, equipped with the Rehydration module as a vital tool, can educate people in their communities on how to prevent and treat the diarrheal diseases that result from the viruses and bacteria found in unclean water.
WiRED Infectious Disease Training Animations
WiRED offers a suite of infectious disease training animations to prepare communities to slow the spread of illness. The animations are designed to engage students and their families in learning about the diseases and how to prevent them. The animations are accessible through our innovative HealthMAP App, now available and easily available for free download for both Android users and Apple users.
The animations include:
Infectious Disease Basics- Recognizing Signs and Symptoms of Illnesses
- Personal Hygiene and Healthy Living
- Water Sanitation and Purification
- Fighting Cholera Together.
