Effect of Zinc Supplementation on Clinical Course of Acute Diarrhoea (Meeting Report) (Report‪)‬

BACKGROUND Over the past decade, substantial progress has been made in understanding the significance of nutrition in child health and survival, particularly the role of specific micronutrients in preventing childhood morbidity and mortality. Vitamin A, for example, was initially recognized for its role in preventing blindness. Its effects on the prevention of severe infections and deaths in children were identified in the early 1980s and confirmed through large trials in the decade that followed. More recently, findings of research suggest that zinc may be another micronutrient that can substantially decrease morbidity and mortality when provided to zinc-deficient populations. Zinc deficiency is widespread among children in developing countries and occurs in most part of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. In a presentation to the Global Forum for Health Research in 1999, Dr. R.E. Black estimated that annual Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) due to zinc deficiency were 57,425,209.