Articles: mortality.
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There is still controversy about the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of outreach nutrition rehabilitation centres (NRCs) for severely malnourished children. We wanted to compare the mortality rates and nutritional status of severely malnourished children admitted to rural NRCs in Gabu region, Guinea Bissau, with other severely malnourished children who were not rehabilitated and stayed in their villages. ⋯ Low-cost, outreach NRCs are effective both in the short term and in the mid-term to improve the nutritional situation and reduce the mortality of severely malnourished children.
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Severe anaemia has remained a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children of Southern Ghana since the early 1960s. 71.1% of 15450 children attending the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra referred to the laboratory for haematological studies had haemoglobin (HB) levels below 11.0 Gm/dl while 27.7% of anaemic patients had Hb levels below 7.0 gm/dl. Indeed, 71.1% of children with severe anaemia had Hb levels below 5.0 gm/dl, thus requiring urgent blood transfusion. ⋯ Iron deficiency was the commonest cause of anaemia and contributed further to the anaemias of sickle cell disease and protein--energy malnutrition. In the light of the significant decline in the prevalence of childhood anaemia in the developed world following improved counseling in nutrition, fortification of foods with iron, and iron supplementation to infants and school children, and the documented attendant improvement in growth velocity and intellectual performance we support the planned national anaemia survey and recommend for early consideration iron supplementation to older infants and pre-school children at risk.
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Das Gesundheitswesen · Apr 1995
[Frequency analysis for achieving health goals--II: Analysis of mortality tables for cause of death, expected mortality].
The article gives algorithms to calculate mean ages at death for specific causes, based on life table models. Parameters of interest are death due to a specific cause, dying after the "elimination" of the specific cause, or the transition into a "new" structure of mortality when a specific cause of death vanishes. The setbacks of widely used calculations are discussed in this context. ⋯ The estimated impact on life expectancy varies according to both the mathematical model and the specific cause of death: differences are negligible in mortality due to accidents, whereas the results differ considerably in cardiovascular causes of death. The algorithm suggested allows to constrain the calculations to specific age groups. Topics such as "avoidable death" and "health objectives" have to be aware of these different methods.
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Over an 18 month period, there were 4,720 paediatric admissions at the Eldoret District Hospital in Western Kenya. The most frequent 20 diseases were identified and their respective case fatality rates calculated. Malaria was the most common cause for admission (33.0%) but the fourth most common cause of death with a case fatality rate of 2.2%. ⋯ Three-fourth of all admissions were due to four diseases: malaria, pneumonia, gastroenteritis and measles. Targeted interventional programmes aimed at these 4 diseases, coupled with a comprehensive primary health care system, would most likely result in much less morbidity and mortality for the children in the district. The systems for routinely collecting and storing medical records were found to be substandard, making it very difficult to accurately monitor morbidity and mortality.