The Department of Health, Gert Sibande District wants to share with parents and caregivers 10 danger signs to look out for in a sick child for them to recognise when a child needs treatment or should be taken immediately to the nearest clinic or healthcare facility.
When a child is not playing, eating or drinking as usual, the child may be sick. The following are the danger signs in sick children:
When a child is unable to drink or breastfeed, vomiting everything, convulsions when a child jerks, has rolling eyes or is unconscious. This could be because of a high temperature. Also act immediately if the child is lethargic and not aware of its surroundings.
Coughing with fast breathing and an inwardly moving chest could be a sign of pneumonia.
A child with diarrhoea and sunken eyes, or diarrhoea with blood could indicate dehydration. A child under two months of age who develops a fever and is not feeding properly needs immediate medical attention.
A young infant under two months should be taken urgently to a health facility if the umbilicus is smelly or has pus around it or if the skin around the umbilicus is red.
Jaundice that is getting worse, skin pustules (blisters filled with yellow pus) and pus draining from the eyes also indicate that the child urgently needs to be taken to a doctor.
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