Prevalence & determinants of diarrheal diseases among children under five years attending Kiryandongo General Hospital

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Date
2019-04
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Publisher
Kampala International University, School of Health Sciences
Abstract
Introduction: Globally diarrhoea kills 2,195 children every day—more than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. That is like losing nearly 32 school buses full of children each day! 1 in 9 child deaths are due to diarrhoea, making 801, 000 child deaths from diarrhoea every year. This makes diarrhoea the second leading cause of death among the under-fives. Despite this positive trend seen globally resulting from socioeconomic development and implementation of child survival interventions, in Africa the state of affairs is still worrisome. The average child in developing countries experiences three or more episodes of diarrheal disease each year, accounting for up to 4 billion cases annually. Objective: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of diarrhea among children under the age of five years attending Kiryandongo General Hospital (KGH). Method: A descriptive questionnaire-based cross-sectional study design was used that involved 135 under-fives with the diagnosis of diarrhea. Results: The prevalence of under-five diarrhea was 7.45%. The significant factors were age, sex and breastfeeding history of the under-five. Others were number of children, number of children below the age of five, education and occupation status of the mother, water and sanitation. The age of the mother was found to be insignificant. Conclusion: The prevalence of diarrhea in under-fives was 7.45%, a value lower than previous statistics with evidence of a significant decline in diarrhea-related hospitalizations and death. Factors found significant in diarrhea among under-fives included age between 1 and 2 years, male sex, poor adherence to exclusive breastfeeding, 3 or more children in a family with more than 2 children being below five years, low education status and lack of employment of primary caretaker. Environmental factors included unsafe, unprotected drinking water sources and poor treatment measures for drinking water. The age of the mother was found to have no statistically significant association
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Clinical Medicine and Dentistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery of Kampala International University
Keywords
Diarrheal diseases, Kiryandongo General Hospital
Citation