Nosheen Aziz, Shahnaz Rauf, Marriam Ashraf.
Determinants of childhood diarrhoea in a Pakistani village, Takkipur - where do we stand?.
J Fatima Jinnah Med Coll Lahore Jan ;1(3-4):76-9.

Worldwide the diarrhoeal diseases are the second most prevalent childhood infection. But still it is major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in the tropical belt. For effective control of diarrhoeal diseases, WHO`s latest recommendations are that in prevalent areas, local risk factors to diarrhoea and exposure variables should be identified and prioritized for better preventive efforts. Takki pur, is a village of Punjab, Pakistan. A cross sectional survey was done to determine prevalence and risk factors to diarrhea in children under 3 years of age in this village. Mothers of 189 children under 3 years of age were interviewed with help of a structured questionnaire, household conditions were observed and every child under study was examined by the interviewer. Prevalence of diarrhoea was (51.85%). The prevalence of diarrhoea was marginally higher among boys than girls (55% vs 43%). The factors significantly related with higher prevalence of diarrhoea were bottle-feeding, (P=0.005) early introduction of weaning items, (P=O.O41) low weight for height, (P=0.05) and poor personal hygiene of mothers (P=0.0059). The study demonstrates that prevalence of acute diarrhoea in Takki pur is still one of highest in developing countries. Though this village had proper water supply and sanitary latrines were also present in majority of households. Appropriate intervention program in such situation is health education campaigns about appropriate use of latrines, breastfeeding, proper weaning and feeding of infants and awareness of mothers regarding personal hygiene. This is a test article.

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