Presentations of 1st International Zinc Conference

The 1st International Conference on Scaling Up Zinc Treatment for Young Children with diarrhoea, entitled  “Recent Research Findings in Support of Scaling Up Zinc”, was held on 19th April 2004 at ICDDR,B’s Sasakawa auditorium in Dhaka. Md. Lutfor Rahman Chowdhury, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, was chief guest and inaugurated the conference. Presentations highlighted the status of research, technology transfer, zinc tablet production and the progress of the marketing campaign.

 Dr. Abdullah Baqui, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, discussed the background of ‘Zinc as a treatment for childhood diarrhoea’. He focused on the historical perspective of zinc research, the evidence base for the role of zinc in diarrhoea, program and policy directions and the challenges for the public health community.[the full presentation is available here...]

 Dr. Abdullah Brooks discussed the ‘Efficacy of zinc as an adjuvant in the management of acute pneumonia in children’. He discussed possible mechanisms of action in both preventive and treatment trials aiming to determine the effect of zinc on the duration of severe pneumonia and hospitalisation and to measure zinc effects on signs of lower airway obstruction. [the full presentation is available here.... ]

 Dr. Olivier Fontaine, WHO, discussed recent developments in the clinical management of acute diarrhoea and referred to the new WHO recommendations for the management of diarrhoea. [the full presentation is available here... ]

 Dr. Lauren Blum, principal investigator of the formative research, shared preliminary findings at the conference. The overall aim of the research is to understand key issues affecting the treatment of diarrhoeal illnesses in children.  Specific objectives include identifying local beliefs and causal explanations associated with childhood diarrhoeal disease and delineating treatment patterns including home remedies and health seeking behaviours during illness episodes.  The information will be used to develop a culturally appropriate mass media campaign as well as one-on-one messages to be delivered by the health care providers. [the full presentation is available here... ]

 Dr. Charles Larson, head of the SUZY project, explained the current status of the baseline observational surveys: management practices, acceptance and compliance. In his discussion he covered aspects of the behavioural and formative study, incidental case study, coverage surveys and other research projects currently under way. [the full presentation is available here... ]

 Ms. Beatrice Simkins from Nutriset discussed latest developments in the production of zinc tablets and aspects related to technology transfer and the selection of local producers of zinc tablets. . [the full presentation is available here... ]

 Ms. Parveen Rashid, managing director of the Social Marketing Company, emphasised in her presentation issues related to the import, distribution, and marketing of zinc tablets in Bangladesh. [the full presentation is available here... ]