Hailemariam Berhe, Abadi Mihret, Gebre Yitayih
ABSTRACT
Background: Acute diarrhea is defined as experience of three or more watery stools, with or without blood, in 24 hours period. It is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in children under the age of five in developing countries. On the African continent, diarrhea cause more child deaths than Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and measles.
Objective: the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of diarrhea and its associated factors among children under-five years of age in Enderta woreda, Tigray, Ethiopia.
Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was used among 295 mothers or care givers of children in Enderta woreda, seven tabia/sub-districts and study participants were selected using systematic random sampling technique by considering proportional to size allocation. Data was entered and cleaned using SPSS version 20. A binary logistic regression with 95% CI was used to see the association between the dependent and independent variables. Finally the results were presented by figure, table and text.
Result: A total of 295 mothers were participated in the study with a response rate of 278(94.23%). From 278 participants, 150(54%) child’s had acute diarrhea. only family income and current breast feeding status of the child were significantly associated with diarrhea (AOR at 95% CI, 0.59(0.21-1.65) and (AOR at 95% CI, 0.36(0.16- 0.80) respectively.
Conclusion: in this study, prevalence of diarrhea among under- five children was 35.6%. Income and current breast feeding status of the child were strongly associated with diarrhea among under -five children. These problems could be alleviated in the long run by integrated efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Key words: Acute diarrhea disease, under 5 years of children, associated factor