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Every year in France, infant diarrhea is responsible for the death of 50 to 80 children under the age of 5 and the hospitalization of approximately 50,000 children, principally related to the dehydration it causes. A significant number of these deaths and hospitalizations could be avoided by simple measures aimed at preventing dehydration, which have been codified and promoted internationally by the WHO over the past 25 years. However, a large number of French physicians do not yet apply them and do not prescribe oral rehydration salts in case of infant diarrhea, but rather prescribe anti-diarrheal drugs that are ineffective against dehydration and are formally rejected by the WHO in such cases. Looking through the prism of this collective failure, we can identify the various causes that put into question the entire French healthcare system, including the following: (i) lack of epidemiological observation; (ii) lack of targeting healthcare actions and initiatives toward children; (iii) inadequate medical culture; (iv) highly ambiguous relationships between the state and the pharmaceutical industry; and (v) the practice of continuing medical education strongly linked to the pharmaceutical industry and incapable to date of facing the challenge of changes in practice, which are nevertheless necessary.