Diarrhoea continues to be the 'leading killer'

Global study reveals diarrhoea and related infections leading cause of death among children under 5 and elderly

Diarrhoea and related infections continue to be a leading cause of death among children under five years and the elderly, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, even though deaths from these conditions have dropped globally by 60 per cent between 1990 to 2021, a study says.

Published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the study found that in 2021, diarrheal diseases—infections that cause diarrhoea—were responsible for 12 lakh deaths worldwide, a significant decrease from 29 lakh deaths in 1990.

These estimates are the latest and most comprehensive from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, US.