Impact of a pilot acute respiratory infection (ARI) control programme in a rural community of the hill region of Nepal.

A prospective study was conducted to determine the magnitude of morbidity and mortality caused by acute respiratory infections (ARI) among children under 5 years of age and to assess the feasibility of reducing mortality owing to ARI by the use of community health workers. Villages selected for this study were situated on the south-west edge of Kathmandu Valley, about 24 km from the city centre. The study group consisted of 1019 children under the age of 5 years at the beginning of the study and followed for 3 years. During the 1st year, baseline information was collected. During the 2nd and 3rd years, intervention measures (health education, immunization and antibiotics for children with signs suggesting pneumonia) were taken and their effect assessed. There was a 59% reduction in the ARI-specific death rate among study children between surveillance year and intervention year I and a further 25% reduction in the ARI-specific death rate between intervention years I and II. Despite a substantial reduction in ARI mortality with the interventions, there was still an unacceptably high mortality from chronic diarrhoea, malnutrition and other factors. This implies that the programme to control ARI, diarrhoea, malnutrition and immunizable diseases should be integrated into one, within the framework of a primary health care strategy.