Assessment of Knowledge and Usage of Oral Rehydration Therapy in Management of Childhood Diarrhea among Mothers of Kambaza town, Kebbi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Diarrhea is one of the major causes of infant and young children morbidity and mortality globally. It is characterized by passing of more than 3 watery stools within 24hr which is accompanied by loss of body fluids and electrolytes leading dehydration and death if not treated. Therefore, this study was aimed in assessing knowledge and use of Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) in the management of childhood diarrhea among mothers. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 103 mothers living in Kambaza metropolis using a questionnaire for quantitative data collection. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20 and p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed that a significant proportion of respondents were below the age of 36 years (25-35years) with the mean age of 30±0.327 years and most of them (92.2%) were married. 81.6% of the respondents heard knowledge about ORT and majority of them (82.5%) indicated they know to prepare ORS/SSS. The use of ORT in the management of childhood diarrhea was also found to be high (82.5%) among the mothers. A significant portion of the mothers (95.1%) indicated already made ORS sachet was more effective in treating diarrhea than home-made SSS. There is no significant relationship between maternal level education and use of ORT in the management child diarrhea (p=0.476). However, a significant relationship exit between maternal knowledge on ORT preparation and its usage for management of childhood diarrhea (p=0.037). This study recorded high knowledge and use of ORT for management of childhood diarrhea among mothers of under-five children. Therefore, it recommended that maternal knowledge on use of ORT and its preparation should be encourage.