[Poor management of diarrhea in children in France]

Every year in France infant diarrhoea is responsible for the death of 50-80 children under the age of 5 and the hospitalization of approximately 50,000 children principally related to the deshydration which it causes. A significant number of these deaths and hospitalizations could be avoided by simple measures aimed at preventing dehydration, measures which have been codified and internationally promoted by the WHO for the past 25 years. In France, a large number of physicians do not yet apply them; they do not prescribe oral rehydration salts in case of infant diarrhoea, but prescriable antidiarrhoeal drugs which are ineffective on dehydration and are formally rejected by the WHO in these cases. Looking through the prism of this collective failure, one can identify the various causes which put into question the entire French health system: Lack of epidemiological observation; Lack of targeting health actions and initiatives towards children; Insufficient medical culture; Very ambiguous relationships between the state and the pharmaceutical industry; System of continuing medical education strongly linked to the pharmaceutical industry and incapable, to date, of raising up the challenge of a change in practice, which is nevertheless necessary.