Dear CHIFA members, CHIFA provides a monthly update for the newsletter of the International Child Health Group of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
We have had a busy month in July, thanks to Edem and his team. Here is what we shared (below). Our intention is (a) to promote the work of ICHG and CHIFA and (b) to encourage people to join ICHG and CHIFA.
Find out more about ICHG: https://www.internationalchildhealthgroup.org/ Membership of ICHG is FREE to members in low- and middle-income countries.
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What is CHIFA?
CHIFA is a global child health discussion forum administered by ICHG, the International Society for Social Paediatrics and Child Health, and Healthcare Information For All (HIFA.org), in official relations with the World Health Organization.
Join here (free): https://www.hifa.org/join/join-chifa-child-health-and-rights
CHIFA members discussed several topics in July, including:
* Caregiver concern for clinical deterioration in children:
- A recent paper in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health notes: 'Delayed recognition of deterioration is one of the most common contributing factors to preventable deaths in children presenting to hospital'.
- CHIFA had previously noted a study that found that '8 in 10 caregivers in developing countries do not know the two key symptoms of childhood pneumonia - fast and difficult breathing - which indicate the need for urgent treatment (only 1 in 3 children with pneumonia receive antibiotics - despite wide availability - and 800,000 consequently die each year)'.
- Hajime Takeuche reported that the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations is currently running a campaign to raise awareness of the early symptoms of meningitis and sepsis.
- CHIFA members are now considering a new joint CHIFA (and HIFA) project on meeting information needs of parents, caregivers, health workers to protect children (and adults) from the devastating impact of meningitis.
* More than half of under-5 deaths could be prevented with simple, affordable interventions:
- The CHIFA steering group invited CHIFA members to help with updating the CHIFA leaflet.
- Specifically, we asked for an update on the following statistic: "5.9 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015. More than half of these early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions”
- We learned that under-5 mortality has fallen substantially; in 2023 it was 4.8 million.
- Wilson Were, senior medical officer, child health at WHO Geneva, confirmed that the statement 'More than half...' still holds true today: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/re-more-half-under-5-deaths-could-be-pr...
* First Approved Malaria Treatment for Infants weighing under 4.5 kg:
- CHIFA lead moderator Edem Kpewou (Ghana) alerted us to the news of the first approved malaria treatment for infants weighing under 4.5 kg.
- This is welcome news, but we were unable to find guidance to support member states and individual healthcare professionals in its use. Whenever a new discovery is made, or a new drug regimen is approved, there is always a lag time for its wide uptake in practice. Do we have an assessment of barriers to use of this new regimen and how can these be addressed?
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CHIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org