At times you cannot prevent a sickness, but you may still be able to control it. “It has been estimated that well over half of all health care,” says World Health magazine, “is self-​care or care provided by the family.” One form of such self-​care is a simple, inexpensive mixture of salt, sugar, and clean water called oral rehydration solution (ORS).

Many health professionals regard oral rehydration therapy, including use of ORS, as the most effective treatment for dehydration because of diarrhea. If used worldwide to control the 1.5 billion diarrhea episodes that occur yearly in developing countries, a tiny packet of ORS salts costing only ten cents could save the lives of many of the 3.2 million children who die from diarrheic diseases each year.

It could, but the use of antidiarrheic drugs in some countries, states the Essential Drugs Monitor, a WHO newsletter, is still “far more common than the use of ORS.” In some developing countries, for instance, drugs are used three times more often to treat diarrhea than is ORS. “This unnecessary use of drugs is extremely costly,” notes the newsletter. Poor families may even have to sell food for this purpose. Moreover, it warns, antidiarrheic drugs have no proved practical value, and some are dangerous. “Doctors should not prescribe such drugs, . . . and families should not buy them.”

Instead of suggesting drugs, WHO offers the following for treating diarrhea. (1) Prevent dehydration by giving the child more fluids, such as rice water or tea. (2) If the child still becomes dehydrated, see a health worker for assessment, and treat the child with ORS. (3) Feed the child normally during and after the diarrheic episode. (4) If the child is severely dehydrated, he should be rehydrated intravenously.b

If you cannot obtain prepackaged ORS, follow this simple recipe carefully: Mix one level teaspoon of table salt, eight level teaspoonfuls of sugar, and one liter (five cupfuls at 200 milliliters each) of clean water. Give one cupful for each loose stool passed, half that for small children. See the box on page 10 for more information on this matter.

[Box on page 10]

ANOTHER ORS FOR CHOLERA

WHO now recommends that rice-​based ORS (oral rehydration solution), instead of the standard glucose-​based ORS, be used for treating cholera patients. Studies show that cholera patients treated with rice-​based ORS had 33 percent less stool output and shorter episodes of diarrhea than cholera patients given standard ORS. One liter of rice-​based ORS is made by replacing the ounce [20 g] of sugar with two to three ounces [50-80 g] of cooked rice-​powder.​—Essential Drugs Monitor.