Children are known to be full of energy, lively, adorable and when they get ill, the overall mood around them dampens. Child illness in Zimbabwe is an issue that pediatricians grapple with on a daily basis. Children are the future and their well-being should be of outmost importance.
Some of the illnesses affecting children in Zimbabwe are malnutrition, pneumonia and gastroenteritis and both doctors and guardians battle them daily.
According to an article by UNICEF Zimbabwe published in 2020 nearly one in three children under five suffer from malnutrition and UNICEF with the help of other aid providers work to provide life-saving and preventative treatment to children at risk of malnutrition.
Zimbabwe’s economic challenges have left a number of households with little buying power to afford a balanced diet and COVID-19 has made the situation worse due to travel restrictions leading to the fear of contracting the disease should one choose to go about their daily business to get income.
Pneumonia is an infection that inflames air sacs in one of both lungs which may fill with fluid and the Ministry of HealthZW twitter handle tweeted that pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics. One third of children with it receive the antibiotics they need and immunisation, adequate nutrition and addressing environmental factors are steps that can be take to prevent the infection.
Gastroenteritis, an intestinal infection marked by diarrhoea, cramps, nausea, vomiting and fever is also most common in children. Children are very adventurous and they rarely think of washing their hands as often as they should, this is one of the major contributors of the infection. It should be up to the parent, guardian or child minder to ensure, as much as possible that food and water are not contaminated and that frequently touched surfaces are cleaned adequately regularly.
Some of the common illnesses that affect children are bronchiolitis, jaundice, gastroenteritis and ear infections.
The above illnesses can be prevented and are treatable, it is however, the responsibility of adults to ensure children are safe, clean and taken care of to avoid these and other illnesses. The Ministry of Health and Child Care is making strides to improve child health, it recently rolled out a plan to vaccinate children against typhoid and HPV. This move is one step towards improving child health.
