Childhood Diarrhea Determinants in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross Sectional Study of Tiko-Cameroon

Abstract

Introduction: Diarrhea remains the second leading cause of death among children under five years globally. Nearly one in five child deaths, about 1.5 million each year, are due to diarrhea. It kills more young children than Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), malaria and measles combined. World Health Organization has accordingly underlined the need for epidemiological surveys of infantile diarrhea in all geographical areas. The main research objectives were to estimate the prevalence of diarrhea and identify factors associated with diarrheal diseases in Tiko city in Cameroon. Method: The present study was a cross-sectional community household survey which was conducted in Tiko town from 1st to 31st of August 2012. With the use of a questionnaire, a total of 602 households that had at least one child under five years of age were interviewed. Mothers/caregivers were questioned on the morbidity of diarrhea and the logistic regression model was employed to examine the determinants of childhood diarrhea. Both univariable and multivariable data analysis was performed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of diarrhea was 23.8% and children under 24 months were highly affected. We found children using the main toilet and other types of toilet facilities such as bushes, diaper, and streams (OR: 0.194; p < 0.001, 95% CI) and usage of narrow-mouth container for storage of drinking water (OR: 0.492; p < 0.001, 95% CI) less likely to suffer from diarrhea. In contrast, higher rates of diarrhea prevalence were seen in children from households with two or more siblings (OR: 1.222; p < 0.001, 95% CI) and whose mothers/caregivers never

Maternal and child level factors associated with childhood (0-23 months) diarrhoea in Ghana: a pooled analysis of national representative datasets

“…This is expected as infants less than six months old may be undergoing exclusive breastfeeding more than those who are older than 6 months. Thus, the latter group is prone to consuming complementary foods; that may contain diarrhoea-causing pathogens (Mihrete et al, 2014;Tambe et al, 2015).…”

“…Age of child [in months] was recoded into 0-5, 6-11, and 12-23. Studies have indicated that children at different ages tend to be exposed to varying levels of diarrhoea (Mihrete, Alemie, & Teferra, 2014;Tambe, Nzefa & Nicoline, 2015;Getachew, Guadu, Tadie, Gizaw, Genrehiwot, et al, 2018). Literature has further demonstrated that younger children (0-5 months) are less prone to diarrhoeal infections compared to older children (6 months and above) (Stanly, Sathiyasekaran & Palani, 2009;Gedefaw & Berhe, 2015).…”

“…Maternal education was categorised into no education, primary, and secondary or higher. The educational level of a mother may enable her to make informed decisions on how to cater for her child to avert diarrhoea (Kumi-Kyereme & Amo-Adjei, 2016; Tambe et al, 2015).…”

Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Escherichia coli and Salmonella Causing Childhood Diarrhoea in Awka Municipality, South-eastern Nigeria

“…Information about household characteristics in a locality and their interrelation with diarrhoea prevalence among the children aged five years is very crucial in the infection control measures, for effective reduction of childhood morbidity and are required to make important policy decisions [6,12]. Similarly, antibiotic susceptibility testing plays a useful role in the outbreak setting and for surveillance of local trends in resistance patterns and mechanisms [6].…”

“…World Health Organization has underlined the importance of epidemiological surveys of childhood diarrhoea in all geographical areas [12]. Information on the etiology of diarrhoea is useful in planning and implementing control strategies to reduce diarrhoeacaused childhood morbidity and mortality in a country.…”