Management of the child with a serious infection or severe malnutrition

Overview

A manual for use by doctors, senior nurses and other senior health workers who are responsible for the care of young children at the first referral level in developing countries. It presents up-to-date clinical guidelines, prepared by experts, for both inpatient and outpatient care in small hospitals where basic laboratory facilities and essential drugs and inexpensive medicines are available.

The manual focuses on the inpatient management of the major causes of childhood mortality, such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, severe malnutrition, malaria, meningitis, measles, and related conditions. It is part of a series of documents and tools that support the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI).

Whereas this manuals focuses on treatment recommendations, a summary of the technical background and the evidence-base underlying these clinical guidelines is presented in the background book "Serious childhood problems in countries with limited resources" (ISBN 29 4 156269 2).