Background

While the Solomon Islands have made inroads towards reducing child mortality, there is still significant work to be done. A key intervention the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) is implementing to reduce child mortality and morbidity is the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI).

IMCI is an integrated approach to child health that focuses on the well-being of the whole child. IMCI aims to reduce death, illness and disability, and to promote improved growth and development among children under five years of age. IMCI includes both preventive and curative elements that are implemented by families and communities as well as by health facilities.

The strategy includes three main components:

• Improving case management skills of health-care staff
• Improving overall health systems
• Improving family and community health practices.

A cornerstone of IMCI strategy remains a set of clinical guidelines for management of childhood illness at first level health facilities. The first version of these guidelines was completed in 1995.

The implementation of the strategy and guidelines has achieved impressive results both in reducing childhood mortality and in improving the quality of life of children all over the world. Nevertheless a number of challenges related to IMCI implementation remain. The key challenges are:

• Need to ensure availability of scientific evidence to support global IMCI guidelines
• Ensuring periodical updates of national and sub-national IMCI guidelines
• Need to respond to new and emerging threats to child health
• Translate the latest technical information into knowledge and skills of thousands and thousands of health care providers (training and performance maintenance)

IMCI Computerized Adaptation and Training Tool (ICATT) was developed by WHO Child and Adolescent Health and Development department (CAH) and the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development (NFSD) to address some of these challenges