The Ministry of Health in conjunction with Basic Support for Institutionalising Child Survival (BASICS), on Wednesday held a one day workshop on new Diarrhoea Disease Case Management and New Interventions for the private sector.

According to Scientific Innovation Synergy (SIS 2007), diarrhoea is the third highest cause of mortality in children under the age of five years.

The main aim of organising this awareness workshop according to Dr. Mathias Yameogo, the resident advisor of BASICS, is to update the private sector on the new methods of treating diarrhoea for children under the age of five.

"The Ministry of Health thought that the private sector needed to be up dated on new drugs that can be effectively used in treating diarrhoea among infants like Zinc and low Osmorality Rehydration Salts (ORS) which were developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and USAID,” explained Dr. Mathias Yameogo.

He went further to explain that the reason why the private sector was thought of in this programme was because; it plays a very big role at 50 percent in the health sector and its proximity to the people especially in rural areas where public health centers are not easily accessible.

They are the ones to give first aid to children suffering from diarrhoea. The one-day workshop attracted over 150 participants who included owners of private dispensaries and clinics.

"Today we are training private dispensary and clinic owners and in the days to follow, we shall train Pharmacists and drug store owners,” said Dr. Marie-Claire Karemera, a representative of the private sector in the ministry of Health.

She also said that it is the private sector that is so much involved with the people so their being trained was going to be of great importance.

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