Behavioural, Environmental, Socioeconomic and Demographic Determinants of Diarrhoea Morbidity among Children Under 5 Years in Migori County, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, there are 2.5 billion cases of diarrhoea among under fives every year. In 2015, diarrhoea caused 9% of deaths among under fives worldwide. In Africa, there are 696 million cases of diarrhoea among under fives every year. About 46%deaths among under fives in Africa are attributed to diarrhoea. In Kenya, diarrhoea accounted for 20% of deaths among under fives in 2011 causing 38,802 deaths. In Migori County, diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, yet the interaction with predisposing factors is still high. This study focused on assessing the behavioural, environmental, socioeconomic and demographic determinants of diarrhoea morbidity among children under 5 years in Migori County, Kenya. xiv A cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 216 under fives were sampled using multistage sampling technique. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument for data collection. SPSS was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test of independence and Fisher’s exact tests were computed. According to study findings, 18% of under-fives in Migori County had diarrhoea two weeks before the study. Socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with diarrhoea among under fives was the number of rooms in a household ( = 0.002). Behavioural factors included hand washing with soap ( <0.001; food storage method ( <0.001); and heating stored food before feeding ( <0.001). Environmental factors included method of refuse disposal ( <0.001); latrine availability ( = 0.001); latrine type ( = 0.037);latrine sharing ( <0.001); source of drinking water ( = 0.009); water storage ( = 0.002); method of drawing water ( = 0.005); scooper cleaning ( <0.001); cleaning water container before refilling ( = 0.034); and drinking water treatment ( = 0.010). Conclusion of the study was that determinants of diarrhoea morbidity identified should be addressed to prevent occurrence of diarrhoea disease among under fives. The null hypothesis that diarrhoea among under fives has no association with behavioural, environmental, socioeconomic and demographic factors was rejected. Among the three categories of determinants, environmental factors had more significant associations. Recommendation is that the community in the study area could possibly benefit is concerted efforts are made to increase the number of latrines. Efforts should be made to protect water sources in the study community. In addition, the study emphasizes that hygiene practices should be encouraged, and intervention programmes should be implemented on refuse disposal to create awareness on proper refuse and wastewater disposal.