Pneumonia and Diarrhea

This week, I checked in again on the 2 children with pneumonia who I discovered at my GMP session. They are both perfectly fine now! A mother came to me when I was at another household visit. Her baby boy was only 7-months-old and was defecating frequently. She was correct that it was diarrhea, but there was nothing to be worried about since the baby did not show any danger signs of dehydration. I advised the mother to feed the baby lots of breast milk along with the solid food he was used to. I told her she should also give him oral rehydration solution each time he defecated.

One early morning another mother came to my house with her baby. She suspected that the baby was suffering from pneumonia. She was right. I asked her how she knew. She told me she remembered my courtyard session how to recognize the symptoms of pneumonia. I was very happy about her knowledge, awareness and understanding. I refreshed her memory with some more counseling, gave her a bottle of cotrim [antibiotic] syrup and explained the dosage to her. I went to her house for a follow-up visit a couple of days later. I was very happy to find the parents were following my advice and the baby was doing fine.

Both pneumonia and diarrhea can be fatal to children if they are not treated early. The good thing is, if parents know the danger signs and treat their children’s illnesses quickly, pneumonia and diarrhea are easy to cure with low-cost remedies. This is why the work I do is so important. I am here with the families all the time, and I can educate them and remind them of what to do.