USAGE OF ORAL REHYDRATION SOLUTIONS (ORS) - A CRITICAL-ASSESSMENT OF UTILIZATION RATES

Oral rehydration solutions (ORS) are widely promoted as a treatment for the dehydration associated with childhood diarrhoea. Many national and global programmes have adopted ORS use rates derived from surveys as their principal indicator of programme success. However, such widespread reliance on ORS use rates is ill-advised. The rate is very sensitive to the way the survey questions are asked. Discussed here are the terms identifying diarrhoeal episodes, the length of the reference period, and the ordering of questions about treatment practices. Furthermore, ORS rates are frequently used inappropriately, often in situations in which treatment of a proportion of all diarrhoeal episodes is not the principal objective.