Assessment of Diarrheal Disease Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors in Children of 6-59 Months Old at Adama District Rural Kebeles, Eastern Ethiopia, January/2015

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Diarrheal disease is the commonchildhood illness and a leading killer of children agedunder 5 years, especially in developing countries like Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess theprevalence of diarrheal disease and associated risk factors among children of 6-59 months old at Adamadistrict rural kebeles, Eastern Ethiopia.METHODS: Community based cross sectional study design was conducted in January/2015. Descriptivemethod was used to describe study variables quantitatively and explanatory method to identify the effect ofdeterminant factors on diarrheal disease occurrence. A single population proportion sample size formulawas applied. Random sampling procedure was used by lottery method to select five kebeles and 442 house-holds. Data was collected by using pretested, structured questionnaires through interview andobservational checklist by trained data collectors. Double entry was made to epi-info 3.5.3 and &transferredtoSPSS20foranalysis.RESULT: The two weeks’ period prevalence of diarrheal disease in children aged 6 to59 months was14.7%; 95%CI [11.5-18.1]. mother/caregiver who did not practice hand washing during the critical timewas the only factor identified to be significantly associated with AOR=2.2; 95%CI [1.0-4.7] for the childhooddiarrhealdiseaseoccurrenceatAdamadistictruralkebeles.CONCLUSION: Diarrheal disease prevalence is changed by child’s caregiver hand washing practiceduring critical time. Health education for child’s caregiver on hand washing practice during critical timeis an important intervention for the prevention of diarrheal disease prevalence among children.