This is the Ataturk Children’s Hospital in Kabul, where many children have been brought to this hospital due to diarrhoea and vomiting.
I come close to one of the mothers holding her child in her arms and asking about her child’s condition. She says her name is Salma and adds that her child has severe diarrhoea and vomiting.
“It’s been more than a week that my child has had diarrhoea and is vomiting. We haven’t given him anything other than breast milk and powdered milk, but I don’t know why it happened. Although his vomiting is better now, his diarrhoea continues.”
Salma is not the only mother who is worried about her child’s diarrhoea and vomit. Maryam is another woman whose child was crying, she said:
“My child has had diarrhoea for two or three days. I brought him to the hospital this morning. I have given him ORS medicine, but he hasn’t gotten better, even his diarrhoea has increased.”
Meanwhile, a number of doctors say that people of any age can suffer from diarrhoea and vomiting, but children are more prone to these diseases due to their low immunity.
Dr. Faiz Talab Noori, a pediatric internist and an employee at Ataturk Children’s Hospital, says: “Diarrhea is one of the acute diseases and most of the beds in children’s hospitals are filled with patients suffering from this disease.”
Hot Air
Some citizens say that their children are more in harm by this disease in the hot season.
Mursal is a mother who came to Kabul from Bagram for treating her sick child. He says: “One day, the weather was very hot, and my child suddenly had diarrhoea. Although I treated him in Bagram, I went to the clinic, I went to a private doctor, but he did not get better until I brought him to the child health hospital, where they gave him medicine, and now he is better.”
At the same time, a number of experts confirm that as the weather warms up, more people suffer from diarrhoea and vomiting.
Wahida Hassanzada, one of the doctors at Ataturk Children’s Hospital, says that the diarrhoea and vomiting causes are different, but the number of sufferers increases as the weather warms.
“We admit at least 9 patients daily and this number increases as the weather warms up.”
Unhealthy Environment and Food
A number of families believe that a polluted environment causes their children to suffer from diarrhoea or vomiting.
Marzia, whose child has both shortness of breath and severe diarrhoea and vomiting, says: “First, my child had pneumonia. I admitted him to the clinic, there were many children with diarrhoea and vomiting, and I think their diarrhoea and vomiting were transferred to my child.”
At the same time, a number of medical experts state that factors such as the use of unhealthy food, unhealthy drinking water, not observing hygiene, being in a polluted environment, etc., cause people to suffer from diarrhoea and vomiting. Dr Najwa Fazel, one of the internists, says: “Due to not observing hygiene, mostly children suffer from diarrhoea and vomiting after infancy.”
Poisoning is another cause of people suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting. Sakina, who has become weak due to this disease, explains the reason for her illness as follows:
“My friends and I used to get food from carts on the streets and it made me sick.”
Serina Suri, one of the nurses working at Antani Hospital in Kabul, says about how one of her patients was poisoned: “When she came to us, he had diarrhoea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Now after taking medications, her condition has improved. ”
At the same time, some experts consider food poisoning as one of the main causes of diarrhoea and vomiting.
Vaccine
A number of families consider vaccines as one of the causes of diarrhoea. Zohra, one of the mothers whose child was infected with diarrhoea and vomiting after vaccination, says: “My child has had severe diarrhoea and vomiting for the fourth day. I vaccinated him in the hospital, and when I took him home, he had both a fever and severe diarrhoea.”
But doctors have rejected this issue and say that contrary to people’s opinion, periodical vaccines and measles vaccines are useful in preventing severe diarrhoea and vomiting in children.
According to Dr Najwa, children’s immunity against diseases is low and childhood vaccines are very useful for them.
“While the vaccine is very important, some families have a bad viewpoint and they don’t want to vaccinate their children. Especially the Rota vaccine that should be done every six months; this vaccine increases the immunity of the body.”
Adults
According to medical experts, diarrhoea and vomiting can affect adults as well as children.
Mohsena, one of the patients admitted to Antani Hospital in Kabul, says: “I suddenly had diarrhoea and vomiting at night, my whole body was in pain and I didn’t know why, even though I didn’t eat food at night, my condition was very bad.”
Meanwhile, Dr Faridullah Omari, one of the specialists at Antani Hospital, says that in the hot season, most of the patients with diarrhoea and vomiting are between the ages of 20 and 50.
“We are at the beginning of the hot season, and up to 60 people are hospitalized with diarrhoea and vomiting every day. As the weather warms, the number of patients is increasing day by day.”
Experts generally emphasize that people observe hygiene and avoid eating rotten and unhealthy foods. According to doctors, diarrhoea and vomiting reduce body water too much, and if the sufferers are not treated on time, there is a possibility of their death.
It should be noted that in August 2022, the World Health Organization announced that about 19 thousand people in Afghanistan were affected by diarrhoea and vomiting in one week. According to this report, most of the infected cases were related to the southern provinces of the country.
Translated by: Sadaf Yarmal
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