No more death from diarrhea

Abstract

Based of the methodology in the PAVA program (Promoción Aérea de Vacunación en Antioquia) and working within the framework of the primary level for prevention and the primary care strategy, the school of Medicine of the U.P.B. (Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana) in Medellín, Colombia, developed a program designed to massively inform all city dwellers-as well as those in the Aburra Valley - on the prevent childhood mortality due to acute diarrheal disease (EDA). During 168 continuous hours and counting with the backing of all systems for social communication in the region, 500 of the 700 students enrolled in the School of Medicine as of September, 1983, took care of EDA patients. Organized in groups of 4, the students rendered medical attention at the patient's home, whenever such attention was solicited by calling on of 5 telephonic lines installed for the purpose, only 2.2%of the patients seen in consultation required hospitalization. Examination of the stools revealed that rotavirus, enteropathogenic E, coli and G. lamblia were the causative agents most frequently involved in the disease process.