The results of the study into the causal factors for diarrhoea in children aged under five were presented this week at Bengo General Hospital (BGH). The study’s objectives involved identifying the main pathogens responsible for diarrhoea in children of this age received for treatment whether as outpatients or in the hospital’s emergency paediatric service between September 2012 and December 2013.

Diarrhoea is one of the main global causes of death in children aged under five with 80% of these fatalities occurring on the African and Asian continent. Of the fifteen countries responsible for 3/4 of the deaths from diarrhoea in this age group, Angola recorded 19,700 deaths (2.61%), a result placing the country in 15th position (WHO & UNICEF, 2009).

This was not only the first hospital level study to take place at the BGH and enabling the identification of the most common pathogenic agents for diarrhoea in these children but was also the very first session of "CISA Scientific Conferences".