Kathmandu, November 2:

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is expanding its Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) programme in more 10 districts from the next fiscal year with a motive to reduce the child mortality rate.

The five killer diseases causing child mortality are pneumonia, diarrhoea, malnutrition, measles and malaria. These diseases lead to 75 per cent child mortality under the age of 5. “The government has worked to extend the programme to 10 districts namely Jumla, Surkhet, Parbat, Lamjung, Sinduli, Sankhuwasabha, Kapilvastu, Gorkha, Udaypur and Palpa,” Dr Sun Lal Thapa, programme manager at the IMCI unit of the Child Health Division, told this daily.

Dr Thapa said the IMCI programme has been able to reduce the child mortality rate. “Though there is no survey to know the exact data to determine the difference, analysing the health ministry statistics shows child mortality rate in 25 IMCI district is far less than in the 50 non-IMCI districts,” said Dr Thapa.

“Earlier it was disease specific service but now it has become treatment-oriented service and now follows holistic approach and treats the patient in totality, checking out whether the patient has any symptoms of the above-mentioned killer diseases,” said Dr Thapa. At present IMCI is functional in 25 districts. IMCI is very popular in developing countries. Around 80 of the developing countries are following the IMCI programme to reduce child mortality.

According to the Child Health Division under the Department of Health Services, more cases of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) are being detected in these districts, thus leading to timely treatment and saving children from death due to pneumonia. “The results are better than those in 50 non-IMCI districts as the cases are accessed and managed as per need,” said Dr Thapa.

“In the long run, it will be cost effective as the IMCI programme stresses recommending multiple drug therapy that could cure pnuemonia, diarrhoea and other diseases at the same time,” Dr Thapa said.

The programme was started by the Health Ministry in 1997 from Mahottari as a pilot venture, with financial aid from donor agencies.

“Even in these 25 districts, it has covered 48 per cent of the total children under 5,” said Dr Thapa.