A child who is recovering from diarrhoea needs an extra meal every day for at least a week. Medicines should not be used for diarrhoea, except on medical advice. Diarrhoea can be prevented by breast-feeding, by immunizing all children against measles, by using latrines, by keeping food and water clean, and by washing hands before touching food. Diarrhoea can kill children by draining too much liquid from the body. So it is essential to give a child with diarrhoea plenty of liquids to drink.
Diarrhoea is dangerous.
Roughly one in every two hundred children who get diarrhoea will die from it. Most often, diarrhoea kills by dehydration, which means that too much liquid has been drained out of the child's body. So as soon as diarrhoea starts, it is essential to give the child extra drinks to replace the liquid being lost. In almost all countries, special drinks for children with diarrhoea are available in pharmacies, shops, or health centres. Although these 'salt' are specially made for the treatment of dehydration, they can also be used to prevent dehydration.