DISCUSS BRIEFLY THE FOLLOWING:

1. Examining all sick children aged up to 5 years for general danger signs and all sick
young infants are examined for very severe disease.
● These signs indicate immediate referral or admission to hospital.

2. The children and infants are then assessed for main symptoms.
● For older children, the main symptoms include:
■ Cough or difficulty breathing
■ Diarrhea
■ Fever
■ Ear infection

● For young children/ infants, the main symptoms include:

■ Local bacterial infection
■ Diarrhea
■ Jaundice.

3. All sick children are routinely assessed for:

■ Nutritional and immunization
■ Deworming status
■ HIV status in high HIV settings
■ Other potential problems

4. Only a limited number of clinical signs are used

○ Selected on the basis of their sensitivity and specificity detect diseases
through classification

● A combination of individual signs leads to a child’s classification within one or

more symptom groups rather than a diagnosis.
● The classification of illness is based on a color-coded triage system:
○ PINK: indicates URGENT hospital referral or admission
○ YELLOW: indicates initiation of specific outpatient treatment
○ GREEN: indicates supportive home care

5. IMCI management procedures use limited number of essential drugs and encourage
active participation of caretakers in the treatment of children.
6. Essential component of IMCI is the Counseling of caretakers on home care
a. Correct feeding and giving of fluids
b. When to return to clinic immediately
c. When to return for follow-up
Reference:
https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/PRINCIPLES-OF-THE-IMCI-CASE-MANAGEMENT-GUIDELINES
Doc Agdeppa’s reference materials: Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI)
1. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE IMCI STRATEGY? EXPLAIN.
● Addresses major child health problems because it systematically addresses the most important
causes of children illness and death.
● Responds to demands.
● Promotes prevention as well as cure because IMCI emphasizes important preventive
interventions such as immunization and breastfeeding.
● Is cost-effective and cost-saving- most cost-effective interventions in low and middle income
countries (World Bank). Inappropriate management of childhood illness wastes scarce resources.
Although increased investment will be needed initially for training and reorganization, the IMCI
strategy will result in cost-saving.
● Improves health care worker performance and their quality of care.
● IMCI can reduce under-five mortality and improve nutritional status, if implemented well.
● IMCI is worth the investment, as it costs up to six times less per child correctly managed than
current care.
● Improves equity – IMCI improves inequity in global health care. Nearly all children in the
developed world have ready access to simple and affordable preventive and curative care. Millions
of children in the developing world, however, do not have access to this same life-saving care. The
IMCI strategy addresses this inequity in global health care.
● Reduced mortality - Since the introduction of IMCI in the mid 1990’s, over 100 countries have
adopted and implemented the strategy, either in part or all of its three components. Evidence
suggests that if fully implemented, IMCI contributes to reduction in child mortality. A Cochrane
review by Gera et al in 2016 found that the strategy was associated with a 15% reduction in child
mortality when activities were implemented at scale in health facilities and communities.