Chennai, Sep 20 (IANS): The diarrhoea control drive by the Tamil Nadu Health department among children aged under five years will end on September 30. While the drive was started on September 16, in the initial phase the focus was to create awareness among the people about the reasons causing the disease and how it spreads.

The drive which is supported by the National Health Mission is mainly to prevent deaths due to diarrhoea.

J. Sampath, Joint Director of Public Health, Tamil Nadu, told IANS, "There are nearly 63 lakh diarrhoea cases reported in India. However, the number of cases reported in Tamil Nadu is very low but still we are creating awareness among the general public so that they must not be caught unaware if the disease infects their child."

An Anganwadi worker will be assigned for every 1,000 people to spread awareness among them about diarrhoea. The trained workers will create awareness about the disease among families and the immediate first aid measures to be taken care of if the child is affected by the disease.

They will apprise the families as to when the child requires hospital admission as well as on the various home remedies that people can follow.

The trained Anganwadi staff will provide information to parents on oral dehydration therapy as well as awareness on the usage of zinc tablets. If the disease persists in the child even after following these measures, the child must be admitted to a hospital.

Sampath said this is done to help people understand more about the issues to be dealt with at home before being taken to a hospital. Special camps will be conducted at primary health centres for mothers about the disease in addition to the Anganwadi workers conducting door-to-door campaign, he added.

The national average for mortality in diarrhoea cases is 13 per cent in the country while in states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh it is 50 to 60 per cent.

The Tamil Nadu Health department has issued directives that the spread of diarrhoea is mainly due to the use of unsafe drinking water and improperly cooked food.