Low-income settings require local guideline development for childhood illness

December 9, 2008

The next generation of case management guidelines for childhood illness need to be more locally informed, rather than relying on those centrally generated by organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), argues a new essay published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

Mike English and Anthony Scott from the KEMRI–Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya propose a framework for national surveillance, monitoring, and research that could help direct future guideline development in low-income settings. Local data and decision-making will optimise the management of childhood diseases like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea because no universal guideline can capture the differences that exist between countries in disease patterning, health system capacity, and the uptake and acceptance of new health technologies, the authors say.

As low income countries develop, the authors argue, they will benefit from local data on the burden of disease, the effectiveness of treatments and their costs, and the patterning of people's health care usage. This information can be combined with other data available from international organizations and collaborations to help foster the evolution of guidelines and policy in low-income countries.

The authors also argue that their framework may help overcome the historical limitations of the WHO guideline development process—that "no comprehensive process for evaluation, revision, or refinement was established at introduction," despite the fact that the WHO guidelines are meant to be applied to the care and treatment of vast numbers of children each year. "We will need appropriate evidence to adapt treatment guidelines for these millions of children," the authors say, "so that the guidelines are optimally effective at regional or country, not continental, level." The WHO has an important role to play, they argue, in assisting low income countries in their increasingly devolved process of decision making.

Citation: English M, Scott JAG (2008) What is the future for global case management guidelines for common childhood diseases? PLoS Med 5(12): e241. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050241
http://medicine.pl … pmed.0050241

Source: Public Library of Science


Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Overeating may double risk of memory loss

New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. The study was released today and will be ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created 3 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 6 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Declining health-care productivity in England: Who says so?

Reports that the National Health Service in England has been declining in productivity in the last decade appear to have been accepted as fact. However, a Viewpoint published Online First by The Lancet disputes this. The Vi ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 1 hour ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor

(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.

Medicine & Health / Health

created 8 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (58) | comments 17 | with audio podcast


Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell

Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...

Lab study raises questions over nano-particle impact

Tests involving chickens have raised questions about the impact on health from engineered nano-particles, the ultra-fine grains commonly used in drugs and processed foods, scientists said on Sunday.

Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Researchers find extensive RNA editing in human transcriptome

In a new study published online in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, reported the evidence of extensive RNA editing in a human cell line by analysis of RNA-seq data, demons ...