Özet:

Diarrhea episodes among children under five years with its devastating consequences have been an issue of grave concern to stakeholders in child survival strategy programs. Stakeholders who are very key in the prevention of diarrhea among children are mothers or care givers of these children. The objectives of the study were to identify the associated causes of diarrhea among children under five and to find out the knowledge of mothers on its prevention. A non-probability sampling method was used to select 300 respondents for this study. Self-administered questionnaires were administered to respondents for the study. The data obtained from the study was analyzed using SPSS. The study revealed that the majority of respondents started introducing complementary feeds and water to their children before the age of six months. In addition, the majority of respondents reported not washing their hands before breastfeeding, and after visiting the toilet. The majority of respondents had no idea of the causes of diarrhea; even though the majority of the respondents thought it can be prevented. It is recommended that in order to curtail the problem of diarrhea among children less than five years, mothers should adhere to nutrition and hygiene promotions programmers and give priority to exclusive breastfeeding, safe disposal of fecal matter, and effective hand washing before breastfeeding and after visiting the toilet.

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