More than one third (38 per cent) of children with diarrhoeal diseases in the developing world (excluding China) receive the recommended treatment – oral rehydration therapy (oral rehydration salts or recommended homemade fluids or increased fluids), along with continued feeding.

The highest levels of treatment are found in East Asia and the Pacific (excluding China) at 61 per cent, while the lowest treatment levels occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with only 31 per cent of children under five with diarrhoea receiving the recommended treatment.

Data from 26 sub-Saharan African countries with comparable data available for around 2000 and 2006, covering nearly half of the African under-five population, indicate that there has been little progress in increasing coverage with the recommended treatment in this region - increasing only from 32 per cent in 2000 to 38 per cent in 2008.