The Morbıdıty Of Dıarrhoea In 0-36 Months Chıldren In Kayseri Health Distrıct Area and The Knowledge, Attıtude and Behaviour Of Mothers About Doarrhoea

Abstract

Diarrhoea, which is an important public health problem is the second most prevalent disease following acute respiratory infections and the most important cause of infant and the child deaths in Turkey. This study was performed in two urban and 6 rural health centre areas on August 1993. 721 children aged between 0 and 36 months were chosen by 1/4 systematic sampling. The data was collected by questionnaires through personal interviews with mothers. 43.3 % of the children had had diarrhoea during the last three months and the mean number of cases of diarrhoea was l.38±2.00. The mean number of diarrhoea cases were high in rural areas children with those in urban areas. This number was higher in males than females and also it was higher in children aged 25-36 months than the other age groups. The morbidity of diarrhoea was higher in the children who had no tap water in their house, no toilet in their house and also no tap water in their toilet and had a bam near their house. The morbidity was also higher in children having no refrigerator in their house. Among mothers surveyed 39.1 % of them described diarrhoea correctly and 91.7 % o f them believ ed that diarrhoea is a fatal disease. 96.4 % of the mothers stated that they increased the amount o f liguid they usually gave, 79.9 % o f them stated that they had given a special diets for diarrhoea, 76.5 % of them stated that they had given Oral Rehidration Solution. The proportion of mothers who stated that they would bring the children to the doctor with diarrhoea was 76.4 % and 16.0 % of them said that they would give the drugs that were already present at home. 13.3 % of the mothers indicated that they stopped breast feeding when diarrhoea started.