PREVALENCE OF DIARRHEAL DISEASES AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG UNDER-FIVE CHILDREN IN AWBARRE DISTRICT URBAN KEBELES, SOMALI REGION, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Diarrhea can be described as the passing of loose or liquid stools, or three or more loose or watery stools within a 24-hour period. In 2013, of the 6.3 million children worldwide who died before they reached their fifth birthday, about half (3.2 million) died from infectious diseases, with diarrhea killing more than 500,000 children. There is lack of information about under five diarrheal morbidity done before in this area. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of diarrheal diseases and associated factors among under five children in Awbarre district urban kebeles, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was used to conduct this study. Systematic sampling technique was used to select 436 households that had at least one under-five child from 3 randomly selected kebeles. Data were collected using World Health Organization core questionnaire through interview and observational checklists by trained data collectors, and then it was entered in to EpiData version3.2 software and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, proportion, tables) were used to describe the study population in relation to relevant variables. To identify independent predictors of childhood diarrheal diseases, only variables that were statistically significant (p<0.25) during binary logistic regression were entered into multiple logistic regression model to control the effects of confounders. Odd Ratios along with 95% CI and P value =< 0.05, was used to declare the independent predictors of childhood diarrheal diseases for this study. Result: The two weeks diarrheal diseases prevalence among under-five children in this study was 15.8%(95% CI: 12.4, 19.5), which was significantly associated with child’s being from mothers/caregivers of households not treating drinking water before use (AOR:2.23; 95%CI 1.25, 4.36) and being from mothers/caregivers who were disposing solid wastes of the households improperly (AOR:4.81; 95%CI 2.00, 11.58). Conclusion: Improper disposal of household’s solid wastes and not treating household’s drinking water were the main causes of diarrhea according to this study. Therefore educational interventions to reduce diarrheal diseases among under five children focusing on water treatment use and safe disposal of household’s solid wastes should be encouraged and enhanced