Rotavirus vaccines and diarrhoeal disease : paediatrics

Annually 11 million children under the age of five years die. Diarrhoeal disease ranks third in the world as the biggest killer of children under the age of five years. This translates into 1.6 million deaths annually. In South African children under the age of 5 years, diarrhoeal disease accounts for 10,786 deaths annually or 30 deaths per day. It ranks third as a cause of mortality after HIV / AIDS and low birth weight.