Abstract
Diarrhea causes major childhood morbidity and mortality globally. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of childhood diarrhea among under-five children in Southern coastal area of Bangladesh. A community-based cross-sectional study conducted from April to June 2018 among 202 randomly selected children. A structured questionnaire used to collect information on a three month diseases occurrence and other covariates. The association of diarrhea with socio economy, personal and food hygiene practices observed using multivariate logistic regression after adjusting for potential confounders. Prevalence of childhood diarrhea was 10.9%. In bivariate analysis, mother’s education, family income, father’s occupation, hand washing of child before feeding and refrigerator associated with outcomes. In multivariate analysis, father’s occupation, hand washing of child by soap before feeding and having refrigerator in households was associated with childhood diarrhea after controlling the socio-demographic factors (age and gender). Child of unemployed fathers were more likely to have diarrhea than employed father (AOR=0.206; 95% CI: 0.070-0.610).Child do not wash hand before feeding (AOR=0.393; 95% CI =0.102-0.511) and households not having refrigerator (AOR= 0.072; 95% CI: 0.007-0.745) had higher odds of diarrhea. The load of diarrhea in this setting was almost double to the national rate. Poor hand washing of child and refrigerator are major risk factor high burden of the disease. Health promotion strategies on proper food storage and child feeding practices are recommended for the prevention of childhood diarrhea.
 Asian Australas. J. Food Saf. Secur. 2018, 2(2), 93-99
Highlights
Diarrhea still remained major cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children in developing countries (Begum et al, 2013; Mahapatra et al, 2015)
This cross sectional study explored the association of hygienic practices with child diarrheal morbidity in a rural community
We found an association with the maternal education with diarrheal episode in the study settings
Summary
Diarrhea still remained major cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children in developing countries (Begum et al, 2013; Mahapatra et al, 2015). Majority are aged under five among 1.5 billion cases and 2.5 million death every year for diarrhea (Mannan and Rahman, 2011). Diarrhea accounted for 17% of all deaths worldwide, 21% in developing countries and 26.1% in South Asia (Anteneh et al, 2017; WHO, 2007; Walker et al, 2012). Prevalence of diarrhea among children less than 5 years old was 25.2% in Kashmir, India and 22% in Ethiopia (Ahmed et al, 2008; Alebel et al, 2018). In Bangladesh, 6.1% under-five children affected and 2.8 % child death by diarrhea (BBS and UNICEF, 2016; Rahman et al, 2014).
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