Management Practices Of Acute Diarrhoea By Caregivers Of Children Under Five Years In Mathare Informal Settlement, Nairobi City County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Diarrhoea continues to remain one of the main and the second most significant cause of death globally in children under five years. The number of diarrhoea cases continues to increase every year and is estimated to be 1.7 billion annually. In 2018, in Kenya, 1,499,146 cases of diarrhoea were reported among children under five years and Nairobi accounted for 136, 028 cases. A research in Nairobi Informal Settlements showed that 25.6% of children living in the Informal Settlement had diarrhoea. Caregivers in Mathare reported that their children contract diarrhoea at least once every two weeks. As diarrhoea is mostly managed at home by caregivers there is need to determine the management practices of acute diarrhoea by caregivers of children under five years. The main objective of the research was to determine the management practices of acute diarrhoea by caregivers of children under five years in Mathare Informal Settlement. To achieve this objective, a cross-sectional study design was used. It was preferred because it is a one point of time study. Due to its pollution and diarrhoea frequency reported by caregivers, Mathare Informal Settlement was purposively selected. For the choice of households and respondents, simple random sampling was used. Researcher administered questionnaire and observation checklist were completed appropriately. Fisher’s and exact test, Pearson Chi-square as well as Pearson correlation were utilized in the analysis. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Age of the caregivers ranged from 18-72 years old. The main age group of caregivers was 25-31 years old with 56.17%. The household size ranged from 2 to 15. Children under five years living in the selected households of the study ranged from 1 to 7 per household. Children who were 1 per household accounted for 49.4%. Mothers accounted for 83.6%. Prevalence of diarrhoea among children was 18.7%. Sex of the caregiver (p=0.008), relationship of the caregiver (p