According to official data, as of September 2, a total of 52 deaths due to diarrheal diseases have been reported across the country.
September 22, 2023 – 23:02
Children under five remain the main victims of diarrheal disease, with numbers in August reaching their highest level in the past five years, official figures show.
As detailed in the recent epidemiological bulletin issued by the Ministry of Health (Minsal), as of September 2 this year, at least 52 people have lost their lives due to complications related to the disease.
“It’s really hard when they don’t recognize you,” said a relative of an Alzheimer’s patient.
The nationwide hospital network has admitted 146,905 patients, and data shows that the highest rate of discharges is among children under 5 years old, with a recovery rate of 73%, followed by children between 5 and 9 years old, with a recovery rate of 11%.
As of the epidemiological registration week 35 of 2022, a total of 36 deaths were recorded in the Minsar registry, while the cumulative number of treated cases during the same period was 184,061.
“It is noteworthy that the mortality rate is very high, which should not be the case in the 21st century, people die from diarrhea. This shows the health system,” noted Ivan Solano Leyva, a specialist in infectious diseases. A doctor specializing in infectious diseases Iván Solano Leiva noted, “It is worth noting that the mortality rate is very high, which should not be the case in the 21st century, people died from diarrhea. ” This shows that the health system is not doing its full role in educating the population. I would say it also paints us as an underdeveloped country, that is, there is not enough infrastructure to help Salvadorans have access to drinking water, education on preventive measures, no Adequate disposal of excrement, which may be due to poor garbage disposal,” he noted.
Two people die from pneumonia every day in El Salvador
Two people die from pneumonia every day in El Salvador
One point the experts stress is the need to know whether mortality is also concentrated among children under five years of age, and if this is the case, “we will have to look at one of the important causes of vaccine-preventable diarrhea and if they rotavirus vaccines are Caused by the rotavirus, which usually affects children under one year old, the rotavirus vaccine is part of the national programme, but we have shortages in addition to vaccination coverage having collapsed.” Infants.
For infectious disease experts, it becomes critical that government agencies continue to work on educating the most vulnerable populations, as diarrhea is a completely preventable disease, especially in infants, because “in our country, there is a strong fear of neonatal diarrhea.” There’s a lot of belief in everything. At one year old, people still believe they’ve seen their children,” he noted.
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