Integrated Management of Childhood Illness

The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) helps to save the lives of thousands of children who would otherwise die from easily prevented diseases. As some of the world's most vulnerable people, seven out of ten children die from five preventable conditions, diarrheal disease, acute respiratory infection, measles, malaria and malnutrition. At an alarming rate, 24,000 children worldwide die every day because of these conditions.

To help save the lives of 25,000 children each year under the age of five in a five year span, the American Red Cross in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other organizations, spearheaded a 10-country, five-year initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean. The American Red Cross is also supporting programs in other countries including Cambodia, Ghana, Armenia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Teaching the principles of IMCI to local Red Cross societies, the American Red Cross is actively addressing the five most common causes of childhood illness and death. Fortunately, many of these diseases can be easily prevented if the symptoms are recognized early on.

Red Cross community health educators trained in IMCI teach local caregivers and parents to recognize the danger signs of these five childhood killer diseases, encouraging referral to health facilities. IMCI training is also valuable in disasters worldwide where 80 - 90 percent of deaths among all ages in displaced populations are caused by these five killer conditions, also known as the DAMMM conditions.

Millions of children worldwide, such as this child from Guatemala, are at risk from diseases that are easily prevented and treated.

The American Red Cross has joined the efforts to improve child health in 10 countries of the Americas, as well as select countries in other regions of the world.