This World Health Organization Leadership Election Is Crucial, And It’s Getting Ugly

Diarrhea is endemic to Ethiopia a country of over 100 million people where the vast majority of people live in rural communities.  It has only one large city, Addis Ababa with a population less than 4 million. Unfortunately, in Ethiopia, about a third of children have diarrhea and it is the second leading cause of death in children under 5. As one report put it “Studies have shown that, in developing countries like Ethiopia, the occurrence of diarrheal disease among under-five children is complex” caused by many factors ? rotavirus, bacterial infections, contaminated food, lack of sanitary conditions. Often, especially in remote, rural communities, it is hard to make a laboratory confirmed determination of the precise cause of diarrhea and, consequently, most are classified descriptively as “acute watery diarrhea.”