Report of a consultation on ORS supply and distribution in Nigeria

After reviewing the current status of health services and the oral rehydration therapy program in Nigeria, the author presents various preliminary and 5-year estimates of ORS requirements and discusses the initial supply of ORS to public health services by donor agencies and mechanisms for long-term procurement by the services themselves; a discussion of distribution options and information requirements is included. The report"s concluding sections treat commercial ORS distribution and, more briefly, local production and problems of organizing the national CDD program. Included are recommendations addressing these issues and a list of possible areas of future assistance from AID/W"s PRITECH project (9365927). Appendices include population- and consumption-based estimates of ORS requirements, the text of a lecture by a UNICEF representative on Nigeria"s child survival revolution, and a study presenting a recipe for a homemade sugar-salt solution for treating acute diarrhea.