Can village mothers prepare oral rehydration solution?
PIP: Both the prepackaged glucose-electrolyte powder and the domestic rehydration solution have received wide publicity, yet there has been little evaluation of how accurate the mother can be in preparing the mixture. The 2 studies described here attempted to measure this human factor in actual field situations in India and Trinidad. The 1st study attempted to quantify the variability in the size of the 2-finger and thumb pinch of salt. The 2nd study measured the different concentrations when mothers diluted a standard packet of glucose and electrolytes in domestic vessels. In India and Trinidad, mothers of children with diarrhea were instructed about making up local salt-sugar-water mixtures for home treatment. They were shown how to take a 2-finger and thumb pinch of salt in a way which had previously been agreed upon. Multiple pinches–5 in Trinidad and 10 in India–were then weighed on standard laboratory scales to find the average salt picked up. The fingers of the mothers were me
