The Ministry of Health is setting up clinics at all health facilities nationwide to improve management of childhood illnesses. The clinic setups is guided by the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) strategy.
This is a strategy that is implemented jointly by the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health.
IMCI was introduced globally after it was discovered that nearly ten million children under the age of five die every year from various childhood illnesses.
In Fiji, the more common childhood illnesses include acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, ear infections, asthma and measles.
Since 2001, many doctors and nurses have been trained in the area of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI).
There were a number of training programmes conducted and the IMCI strategy was piloted and practised nationally.
The core of the IMCI strategy is the application of clinical guidelines for the integrated case management of sick children aged five years and under.
It means that nurses are certified to diagnose diseases among children below five years and can medically treat the children taking the load off doctors.
At IMCI clinics parents are advised and trained to identify signs and symptoms of illnesses that afflict their children.
They are also guided on how to administer medication to their sick children.
Colonial War Memorial Hospital consultant pediatrician, Dr Lisi Tikoduadua said the strategy came from UNICEF and WHO and was put together in late 1990s.
“It’s a way of looking at sick children in a more holistic manner. Looking at sick children is not an easy task,they are everywhere in islands and highlands. This strategy was earmarked for first-level health workers, nurses who are out in fields and medical officers in medical areas,” Dr Tikoduadua said.
“When children get sick they cannot articulate why they are sick, which makes it difficult to see children. For a nurse on an island, using IMCI strategy will enable her how to do it. She’ll look at the child and with all symptoms the mother has come up with such as coughing, fever and diarrhea the nurse will be able to see the child in a complete manner.”
IMCI addresses the fived leading causes of the under-five mortality (deaths) and morbidity (disease) in developing countries.
The health ministry adopted the IMCI strategy as a pilot project in three subdivisions of the Central Division of Fiji (Suva, Rewa and Serua Namosi) in 2003.
Following a review of the pilot project in 2004, the IMCI strategy was implemented across the country.
The review in 2004 also showed that health workers with IMCI training consistently identified skin conditions as a problem that the existing algorithm did not address.
“Before we took on the IMCI strategy we had to adapt the generic one from UNICEF for the whole globe and adapt to the local situation. Common illnesses that affect our children are cough, fever, diarrhea, measles , ear infection, wheezing , skin problems and sore throat which relates to rheumatic heart disease. They are so common that we included it in the whole algorithm looking at child using IMCI strategy,” Dr Tikoduadua said.
The setup of the clinics is also being carried in line Millennium Development Goal 4 which is reducing child mortality from preventable causes.
Health facilities in the Suva sub-division, Valelevu, Makoi, Nuffield, Raiwaqa, Samabula and Lami health centre, have started IMCI clinics.
-End-