Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: November | Volume: 8 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 238-244
Environmental and Behavioral Factors Associated With Diarrhea Disease among Children Under Five Years Old in Mayo in Khartoum State
Mohammed Eisa Abdalla1, Ahmed Elnadif Elmanssury2,3, Ahmed Eltigani Almardi2,
Safa Abdalla Elnour Dafaalla4
1Health Programme-GOAL- Sierra Leone- Freetown
2Department of Public Health, Faculty of Public Health and Health Informatics. Bukayriah.
Qassim University, KSA
3Department of Public health, Faculty of Public health, Shendi Universty, Sudan
4Department of Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Kordufan North State, Sudan
Corresponding Author: Mohammed Eisa Abdalla
ABSTRACT
Background: It is a fact that diarrheal diseases caused major public health problem in children under-five years of age, especially in camps in developing countries like Sudan. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of environmental and behavioural factors with under five diarrhoea in in Mayo in Khartoum state.
Methodology: Community based cross-sectional study (descriptive study) was carried out to study the prevalence of diarrhoea among under five children in Mayo Camp-Khartoum State –Sudan. The chi-square test was used to determine the association between having diarrhoea in the last two weeks and sociodemographic variables.
Results: Diarrhoeal cases occurring within the 2 weeks preceding the interview were giving an overall prevalence of 35.0%% (n = 311). Prevalence was higher among boys than girls were (25% and 10%, respectively).Our study showed that environmental factors such as state of water containers, place of defecation, and presence of flies in the kitchen was significantly associated with diarrhea, in addition to several behavioral factors that were found to affect diarrheal disease among children in Mayo Camp.
Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of diarrhoea in children under the age of five in Mayo camp, with a higher prevalence among male children than female children. In addition, our study showed high significant association between a mother’s educational level, income levels, and diarrhoeal disease. These findings highlight the need for public health interventions to relieve the burden of diarrhoea among children under the age of five.
Key words: Diarrhoea, Environmental, Behavioral, children, under five years