Resources & Related Links

About Oral Rehydration Therapy

Each year, about 650,000 children under the age of five die from dehydration caused by diarrhea. Most of these deaths are preventable through early use of oral rehydration therapy. Oral rehydration therapy is a safe, effective and inexpensive method of preventing dehydration and loss of electrolytes. In the U.S., dehydration is a significant hidden cause of preventable hospitalization and infant deaths. Child Health Foundation is working to break this cycle of child illness and death through promoting prevention and treatment. These strategies are affordable and sustainable. They include:

  • prompt delivery of oral rehydration solutions and effective feeding during dehydration episodes improved water supply and sanitary facilities
  • modified sanitation behavior (hand washing, proper food handling, etc.)
  • nutrient supplementation
  • promotion of extended breast feeding

With your help, Child Health Foundation’s successes can be expanded, saving more lives and making the world a better place for our children.

ORS Rehydration Recipe

Click here to view the recipe.

Featured resources

The Mother and Child Health and Education Trust takes great pleasure in presenting our new website Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and the new 10 step video series, in association with UNICEF Maharashtra, to support this year’s World Breastfeeding Week campaign.
Diarrhoea is the second leading cause of death among children under five globally. Nearly one in five child deaths – about 1.5 million each year – is due to diarrhoea. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Today, only 39 per cent of children with diarrhoea in developing countries receive the recommended treatment, and limited trend data suggest that there has been little progress since 2000.

UNICEF/WHO Report

Click here to download the report
This website provides up-to-date and comprehensive information and links to resources on diarrhoea, dehydration, oral rehydration, breastfeeding, and related topics.
TIME magazine
This news article provides a comprehensive update on the current use of ORS to treat severe diarrhea, as well as other promising interventions, including rotavirus vaccines.

General information

WHO, UNICEF (WHO/FCH/CAH/01.22)
This meeting report provides background information essential to an expert committee’s consensus toward reducing the osmolarity of previous ORS standards.
WHO, The International Pharmacopoeia
This updated monograph on the new, low-osmolarity formula of ORS was revised to provide the quality specifications as adopted by the WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations in October 2005. The monograph was prepared for inclusion in the fourth edition of The International Pharmacopoeia, currently in press.