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The "vast majority" of nearly 2 million deaths of children under five occur each year...

The "vast majority" of nearly 2 million deaths of children under five occur each year in "resource-poor" areas such as South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Lloyd Bwanaisa and researchers of the University of Malawi. But, despite the high number of incidents, "signs of critical illness in severely dehydrated children are poorly recognised - particularly in resource-poor settings where management protocols have not been adequately evaluated," according to Mr Bwanaisa.

Mr Bwanaisa's presentation was among dozens made by health care practitioners and researchers at the Tenth Congress on Diarrhoea and Malnutrition in Malawi last week.

The conference - organised by the Commonwealth Association for Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (CAPGAN) and hosted by the Malawi College of Medicine in the city of Blantyre - allowed scores of practitioners from around the Commonwealth to gather together to discuss child health.

The congress, which lasted between 12 and 16 August 2009, featured speeches by Professor Geert Tom Heikens, chair of the Department of Paediatrics at the College of Medicine in the UK, and Mary Shawa, principal secretary for HIV and Nutrition in the Malawian Government.

Participants were able to join in discussions and hear about new papers on some of the most pressing issues in paediatric health, including diarrhoea prevention, the prevalence of gastrointestinal organisms, the use of antibiotics, infant feeding, and HIV among children in Africa.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, speaking on the eve of the conference, said Malawi was "especially suited" as "a centre of some very important research in the fields of paediatric diarrhoea and malnutrition".

He said: "Researchers, health care workers and stakeholders in this field can have a tremendous impact on achieving the Millennium Development Goals of reducing hunger and child mortality.

"I wish CAPGAN and all the participants a very successful and productive Congress, and continued success in the future."