Oral rehydration salts and zinc for childhood diarrhoea in Bangladesh, 2019 and 2025: coverage, wealth inequality and reported source of care

Combined ORS and zinc coverage for caregiver-reported diarrhoea in children under five in Bangladesh rose from 35.0% in 2019 to 42.9% in 2025.

• Why it matters: WHO/UNICEF-recommended combined treatment remains insufficiently tracked, and socioeconomic and care-source differences are unclear, limiting targeted progress toward reducing childhood diarrhoea harm.
• What they did: Using Bangladesh MICS 2019 (n=1,589) and 2025 (n=1,634), the study estimated combined coverage with design-based methods, wealth inequality with slope indices, and care-source associations via pooled adjusted prevalence ratios.
• The result: In 2025, ORS coverage was 75.8% and zinc 51.9%, wealth inequality persisted (slope index 13.0 percentage points), and coverage was lower with pharmacy-only care (aPR 0.59) and with no care reported (aPR 0.14).

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