Authors: AKHIMIENHO Kingsley Irelosen, IKHURIONAN Paul, UWAIBI Noel.
Introduction: Diarrhoea is a major public health challenge in low and middle-income countries. It is the second leading cause of mortality in children under the age of five. It is also recognized that exposure to diarrhoea pathogens in developing countries is associated with such factors as quality and quantity of water, availability of toilet facilities, housing conditions, level of education, household economic status, place of residence, feeding practices, and the general sanitary conditions (personal or domestic hygiene) around the house. These factors are still prevalent in many Nigerian communities. This study therefore sought to determine the prevalence of diarrhoea and risk factors among under-five children seen at immunisation clinic of a secondary hospital in Nigeria.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study of 210 mothers attending well-baby clinic of a multi-specialist secondary health facility in Benin-City, South-South, Nigeria. Information relating to socio-demographics and occurrence of diarrhoea in their wards was obtained using ore-tested questionnaire. Data obtained were tabulated and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21. Chi-square was used to determine the relationship between qualitative variables the statistical significance was set at P<0.05.
Result: Prevalence of diarrhoea was 38.6% with a mean number of episodes per year of 2.14. Prevalence of dysentery was 4.3%. There was significant association between age, nutritional status, source of water and the occurrence of diarrhoea (P values of 0.04, 0.038 & 0.02 respectively).
Conclusion: This study shows a high prevalence of diarrhoea amongst under-5 children in our environment.
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