Rationale
The WHO/UNICEF “generic” IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) guidelines were originally designed to address the most common causes of mortality in children age 1 week up to five years old1, especially in countries with an infant mortality higher than 40 per 1000 live births.
In these situations, there is often a substantial incidence of communicable diseases in children under-5 taken to primary health care facilities, and risk factors such as malnutrition and low birth weight are common.
The generic version of the guidelines therefore concentrates on the outpatient management of the following conditions:
- Acute respiratory infections, including pneumonia
- Diarrhoeal diseases, including dehydration, bloody and persistent diarrhoea
- Meningitis and sepsis
- Malaria
- Measles
- Ear infection
- Malnutrition
- Anaemia
WHO has also developed a version for high HIV settings.
The generic guidelines need to be adapted in countries, to take into consideration local epidemiology, existing policies, drug resistance patterns, essential drugs availability, feasibility of implementation through the existing health system, and local terminology used in communities to refer to common illness entities. Recommendations on foods and fluids also need to be adapted.
WHO has developed tools to guide the adaptation process.
The guidelines need also to be periodically reviewed and updated. For this purpose, WHO has published a technical update for further adaptations.
1 The guidelines currently cover the period from birth up to age 5 years.
Links
Generic version of the IMCI guidelines (2008 version)
Generic version of the IMCI guidelines for high HIV settings (2008 version)
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