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Children
are vulnerable to infections because their immune system is less developed.
This has long adverse effect on child’s physical and mental growth. The global
burden of child death is call for urgent and concerted action to further
improve the survival chances of the world’s children. A baby’s immune system is
not fully developed thus, more prone to infections than in adults. Thus a
healthy immune system is very important for the maintenance of health and
prevention of diseases. In children the major causes of childhood morbidity and
mortality are various preventable infections. Though National vaccination
schedule is implicated, mortality rate in India is still high. From the first
day of life vaccination schedule is started but these vaccine do not protect
the child from the disease by bacterial infection, viral infections and
primary, secondary immunodeficiency syndrome. If proper precautions are taken,
many of these diseases can be prevented. The under five mortality rate for the
world is 40.8 death and Infant mortality rate in India is 36.6 death according
to the world bank and the world health organization. 5.6 million children under
five age died in 2006, 15000 everyday.1,2,3
The
leading cause of death among children under age five included4-
Preterm birth complication 18%·
Intra-partum related events 13%·
Pneumonia 15%·
Diarrhea 8%·
Neonatal sepsis 7%·
Malaria 5%·
Malnutrition and under nutrition·
In 2017,
an estimated 6.3 million children and adolescents died, mostly from preventable
cause and 85% of the 6.3 million deaths in 2017 occurring in the first five
years of life5.
Parents
reported symptoms suggestive of a history of Eczema in 10.3%, Rhinitis in 24.2%
and Asthma in 23.6% of children. Overall 43.7% of children had symptoms
suggestive of at least on allergic disorder, with a substantial minority manifesting
symptoms indicative of co-morbid allergic disorder. 6
Ayurveda,
presents different concept of immunity( vyadhikshmatva) which is internal
strength or bala, that comes from the doshas being in balance, digestion and
metabolism functioning normally and the tissues growing properly.
Vyadhikshmatva is the inherent or an acquired
2
capacity
of the body in preventing a disease or in modifying the course on an already
manifested disease to a milder extent.
Kashyap
Samhita is an oldest text book of Kaumarbhritya written by Vridhajeevaka.
Kaumarbhritya is one of leading branch of Ayurveda that dealing with mother and
child health care. Kashyapa has described the concept of Lehan in which the
practice of administration of processed gold is mentioned as Swarnaprashan.
Acharya
have mentioned many benefits of Swarnaprashan-
• Medha
vardhan- Intellect promoting
• Agni
vardhan- Improvement in digestion
• Bala
vardhan- Strength promoting
•
Ayushyam- Improvement in life expectancy
• Mangal,
Punya- Auspicious
• Vrishya-
Aphrodisiac
•
Varnaya- Improvement in complexion and skin texture
•
Grahapaham- Protection from evil spirits and microorganisms
•
Shrutdhara- Capable of grasping even on listening
Most of
the classics mentioned different Lehanas for the children mainly they are the
combination of Swarna, Ghrita and Madhu. Charak Samhita mentioned only mixture
of Ghrita and Madhu.
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