BACKGROUND

Every year, nearly 11 million children die before reaching their fifth birthday, and most of them during their first year of life. Most of these deaths (98% in 2002) are in developing countries; more than half are due to acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, measles, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. In addition, malnutrition underlies 54% of all child deaths. Projections based on the 1996 analysis The Global Burden of Disease indicate that these conditions will continue to be major contributors to child deaths in 2020 unless significant efforts are made to control them (Murray & Lopez, 1996). In response to this challenge, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy, which focuses on these five conditions, and which includes three main components: