INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF NEONATAL AND CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES(IMNCI)
During the mid-1990s, the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with UNICEF and many other agencies, institutions and individuals, responded to this challenge by developing a strategy known as the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI). Although the major reason for developing the IMCI strategy stemmed from the needs of curative care, the strategy also addresses aspects of nutrition, immunization, and other important elements of disease prevention and health promotion. The objectives of the strategy are to reduce death and the frequency and severity of illness and disability, and to contribute to improved growth and development. This strategy has been adapted for India as Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI).
The IMNCI clinical guidelines target children less than 5 years old — the age group that bears the highest burden of deaths from common childhood diseases. The guidelines take an evidence-based, syndromic approach to case management that supports the rational, effective and affordable use of drugs and diagnostic tools. Evidence-based medicine stresses the importance of evaluation of evidence from clinical research and cautions against the use of intuition, unsystematic clinical experience, and untested pathophysiologic reasoning for medical decision-making. In situations where laboratory support and clinical resources are limited, the syndromic approach is a more realistic and cost-effective way to manage patients. Careful and systematic assessment of common symptoms and well-selected clinical signs provides sufficient information to guide rational and effective actions.
The case management process is presented on a series of charts, which show the sequence of steps and provide information for performing them. The charts describe the following steps:
• Assess the young infant or child.
• Classify the Illness.
• Identify Treatment.
• Treat the Infant or Child.
• Counsel the Mother.
• Give Follow-Up Care.
Karnataka has saturated the training under IMNCI and is been practiced at the districts. The latter introduced Home base newborn care module incorporates many components of IMNCI but through the Accredited Social Activist (ASHA).
The Algorithm of assessing a child gives a wonderful approach to manage the child through syndromic approach.
For the IMNCI module visit : http://www.mohfw.nic.in/showfile.php?lid=2349