(NPR) – Every year, nearly 500,000 children die from an easily curable condition: diarrhea. There’s a simple and effective treatment: mixing oral rehydration salts — which are basically a mix of sugar and salt in the form of glucose and electrolytes — for the child to drink to restore the body fluids that are lost during bouts of diarrhea. It works by keeping the body hydrated. These salts are available in small plastic pouches.

But a new study published in the journal Science this month found that though doctors knew about oral rehydration salts (ORS), they just weren’t prescribing them enough. (Read More)