Operational Feasibility of Implementing Community-Based Zinc Supplementation: Impact on Childhood Diarrheal Morbidity

OBJECTIVE:To determine the effect of zinc supplementation on diarrheal incidence and to discover any operational constraints of zinc supplementation at the community level. METHODS:We included 1712 children aged between 6 and 48 months in a randomized double blind study in rural area comprising of 11 villages. Children were randomly divided into 2 groups. Zinc/placebo syrup supplementation was continued for 6 months in a weekly schedule from May 2003. Children were followed up weekly for detection of diarrhea from May 2003 until April 2004. Around 30% of the study children were evaluated every 2 months during supplementation period. RESULTS:During the period, 80,534 weekly visits were made giving 1548.73-child years of observation. We detected 1438 diarrheal episodes among 846 children. The incidence of diarrhea was significantly less during the supplemented period (P < 0.001; RR 0.74 (0.64–0.87)) in the zinc group. A significant difference was also noted during the follow up period (P < 0.05). In the zinc group, children