Abstract:

is one of the leading causes of high mortality and morbidity rate among under five children worldwide. Worldwide mortality estimates ranges from 1.5 to 5.1 million deaths per year, especially in developing countries. The main objective of this study was to establish factors associated with diarrheal diseases in children less than five years at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola, Zambia. Method: A case-control study was conducted in the infectious and non-infectious wards at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola, Zambia from November 2016 to July 2017. Cases were children with diarrhea and controls were children without diarrhea but with other conditions or simply normal and came for review. Results: Total of 112 children with 56 cases and 56 controls participated in the study. Independent factors which were significantly associated with diarrhea after adjusting for confounders were poor hand washing practices by parent or caregiver (OR=0.101, 95% CI[0.022,0.462], lack of exclusive breastfeeding (OR= 0.136, CI[0.029,0.631]) and times of admission for diarrhea (OR=0.18, CI[ 0.004,0.084]).Conclusion: It was found that poor hand washing practices among parents or caregiver was significantly associated with diarrhea in under five children of age at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital, Zambia. Measure should be put in place to educate women about the importance of washing hands with soap after using the toilet and after changing the baby clothes. Further studies are needed in order to help curb the factors that influence diarrhea in under-five children.

Keywords: