Saving Lives Around the World with Zinc

The Zinc Alliance for Child Health (ZACH) brings together Canadian organizations committed to accelerating the use of zinc and ORS around the world to treat diarrhea, one of the leading killers of children. More infants die from diarrhea-related illnesses associated with zinc deficiency than from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

ZACH aims to make the management of childhood diarrhea a key part of reducing child mortality. ZACH works with all levels of government to help ensure the availability of supplies and treatment that is affordable for families, communities, and the wider health system.

The first partnership under ZACH was formed between Canadian partners the Micronutrient Initiative, the government of Canada, and Teck in 2011.

ZACH’s first project was launched in Senegal in May 2012 in support of that country’s Ministry of Health plan to dramatically scale-up zinc treatments for children aged six months to five years. The project aims to treat more than 2 million cases of diarrhea in Senegalese children under the age of five over the next three years. Zinc and ORS treatment is being delivered by healthcare workers at 4,000 health facilities across Senegal.

To date, the project has supplied 39,000 zinc treatments to health facilities and treated more than 8,000 cases of diarrhea with zinc and ORS. As a result of ongoing advocacy and consultation by ZACH, zinc and ORS are now provided free of charge in public health facilities by the Ministry of Health in Senegal. This is significantly improving access to treatment for the country’s poorest populations. In February 2013, ZACH launched two major projects in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia that will save more young lives.
The numbers cannot be ignored. Each year, more than 1 million children under the age of five die from complications associated with diarrhea.

Sadly, nearly one in five children born in Burkina Faso does not see his or her fifth birthday. The project in Burkina Faso will scale-up the use of zinc supplementation and oral rehydration salts to treat childhood diarrhea across the country. The project will aim to treat more than 7 million cases of diarrhea in children under the age of five over the next three years and train healthcare workers and caregivers on the proper treatment of diarrhea with zinc and ORS.

Project components include increasing knowledge and awareness so that more caregivers, health practitioners, and community members recognize the importance of treating diarrhea with zinc and ORS. ZACH will work with all levels of government to help ensure the availability of supplies and treatment that is affordable for families, communities, and the wider health system.

The project in Ethiopia is focused on increasing awareness of diarrhea as a serious childhood illness, as well as increasing awareness that zinc and ORS are the treatment of choice.

Currently, just over a third of children with diarrhea who are taken for treatment at a health post or clinic in that country receive oral rehydration salts, and zinc treatment is close to zero. Yet, providing both forms of treatment not only helps children recover from diarrhea faster, but can help save their lives. The ZACH Ethiopia project is expected to treat 6.5 million episodes of diarrhea in children under the age of five by 2015.

Diarrhea is one of the diseases targeted in Ethiopia’s National Child Survival Strategy, which the ZACH project will support. The project aims to make the management of childhood diarrhea a key part of Ethiopia’s efforts to reduce child mortality.

In April 2013, Teck announced a new partnership with UNICEF to help save the lives of children in India. Nearly one-quarter of all worldwide deaths of children under the age of five occur in India. Many of these children die from a preventable cause – diarrhea. Currently, less than 2 percent of children with diarrhea are treated with zinc and ORS – a proven and effective form of treatment.

Teck and UNICEF’s partnership will improve child health in three states of India – Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh – by improving access to and use of zinc and ORS as therapeutic treatments for diarrhea. The partnership aims to save the lives of approximately 150,000 children from 2013–2017, and 50,000 lives annually by improving coverage of effective diarrhea treatment and strengthening healthcare systems in three regions in India.

Since being launched in 2011, Teck’s Zinc & Health program has made significant progress in improving distribution channels, raising awareness, and educating others about the devastating effects of zinc deficiency. The program focuses on short- and long-term solutions organized around five pillars: Therapeutic Zinc, Zinc Supplementation, Advocacy and Awareness, Food Fortification, and Crop Nutrition. To learn more about Teck’s Zinc & Health program, visit www.zincsaveslives.com or follow @ZincSavesLives on Twitter.