Incidence of pneumonia and gastroenteritis among infants admitted to Orotta Referral Paediatric Hospital in Asmara, Eritrea in 2006.

A retrospective study based on medical records of infants admitted to the Orotta Paediatric Teaching Hospital for the whole of 2006 in order to study the morbidity and mortality rates from pneumonia and gastroenteritis among infants in Eritrea using the integrated management of childhood illnesses guidelines. The main causes of the 2537 admissions of whom nearly two thirds were males and which showed no seasonal variation were pneumonia (39.7%), gastroenteritis with no dehydration (27.1%) and severe pneumonia (19.7%). The case fatality rates were 1.6% for severe pneumonia, 2.7% for pneumonia, 3.5% for gastroenteritis, and 3.2% for those affected by pneumonia and gastroenteritis. Relatively high infant morbidity rates in this study from pneumonia and gastroenteritis is mitigated by low case fatality rates. There is urgent need to identify the factors underpinning high morbidity among infants and scale up interventions such as community IMCI.