Prevalence of and factors associated with acute diarrhea among children under five in rural areas in Ethiopia with and without implementation of community-led total sanitation and hygiene

• Published in: BMC pediatrics 2022-03, Vol.22 (1), p.148-148, Article 148
• Main Authors: Mernie, Gezahegn, Kloos, Helmut, Adane, Metadel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute diarrhea; Child; Children & youth; Children under five; Community-Led Total Sanitation and Hygiene; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Developing countries; Diarrhea; Diarrhea - epidemiology; Diarrhea - etiology; Diarrhea - prevention & control; Diarrhea in children; Disease; Drinking Water; Ethiopia; Ethiopia - epidemiology; Health aspects; Households; Humans; Hygiene; Infant; LDCs; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Population; Preschool children; Prevalence; Prevention; Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Rural areas; Rural children; Sample size; Sampling techniques; Sanitation; Statistics; Supervisors
• ISSN: 1471-2431; 1471-2431
• DOI: 10.1186/s12887-022-03202-8

Since Ethiopia has been implemented the Community-Led Total Sanitation and Hygiene (CLTSH) approach to control incidence of diarrhea, few studies have compared the prevalence of diarrhea and associated factors in rural areas that have implemented this approach with those that have not implemented it, and none have examined it in the district of Menz Gera Midir in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. This study addressed this gap. A community-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 224 children under five in three randomly selected rural kebeles (the smallest administrative units in Ethiopia) where CLTSH had been implemented and 448 similar children in three other randomly selected rural kebeles where CLTSH had not been implemented during February and March, 2020. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and an on-the-spot observational checklist. Data were analyzed using three different binary logistic regression models with 95% confidence interval (CI): the first model (Model I) was used for CLTSH-implementing kebeles, the second model (Model II) for non-CLTSH-implementing kebeles, and the third model (Model III) for pooled analysis of CLTSH-implementing and non-implementing kebeles. To control confounders, each multivariable logistic regression model was built by retained variables with p