ASSESSMENT OF DIARRHEAL CASES AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF UNDER-FIVE CHILDREN VISITING KARAMARA HOSPITAL, JIGJIGA TOWN, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Despite remarkable progress in the reduction of under-five mortality, childhood diarrhea is still the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in this highly susceptible and vulnerable population. Although there are studies conducted to assess the situation of diarrhea in different parts of Ethiopia, there are still several localities including the present study area in which its situation particularly associated with nutritional status is not well studied. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess diarrheal cases and its nutritional association of under five children visiting Karamara Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia. Cross-sectional survey design was employed among randomly selected 384 under-five children visiting Karamara hospital. Structured questionnaire was used to gather necessary information from the respondents. Whereas, anthropometric measurement was used to collect height and weight following the standard measurement tools and procedures. Data was entered into SPSS version 22 and anthropometric measurements were converted into Z-score by WHO Anthro version 3.2.2. Software. Then exported to STATA 14 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The result revealed that the prevalence of diarrhea was 32.55% and the causes of diarrhea found to be 40% Bacteria, 33.6% Protozoa, 22.4% Helminthic, 1.6% Food poison and 2.4% Viral. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was employed to analyze the possible determinants of diarrhea status. The result revealed that age of the child, education status of the mother and treatment of water were found to be statistically significant at 5% for determinants of diarrhea. The study also revealed nutritional status of under-five children visiting Karamara hospital. Thus, the overall prevalence of malnutrition was 44.0%. Specifically stunting was 13.5%, underweight was 12.8% and wasting was 17.7%. Moreover, diarrhea status of under-five children has shown statistically significant association with nutritional status of the children. Accordingly, with the understanding of relationship between diarrhea and nutritional status, early detection of both status among under-five children could save further damage. And also need continues training, awareness creation activities, special attention for child and maternal healthcare services by Somali region Health Office and other practitioners