Mirza Inam Ulhaq, Shahzad Akhtar Aziz, Ayesha Khan, Ayesha Jehan, Anam Farooq, Feroz Inayat.
Current Maternal Knowledge about Diarrheal causes in Children and Role of Oral Rehydration Salt.
J Islamic Int Med Coll Jan ;6(2):25-8.

Objective: To evaluate the community knowledge about diarrheal causes in children and use of ORS as initial management tool Study Design. A descriptive cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study. The study was conducted in the outpatient department of Railway hospital from July 15 to September 15, 2011. Materials and Methods: Total 150 mothers were included in the study with inclusion criteria of having at least one child of less than five years of age. A pretested study questionnaire was admitted to the respondents duly filled by the researcher along with the in-depth interview .The result obtained through the study were then categorized into the causes related to digestive system, food contamination and use of hot and cold. Results were analyzed on SPSS 13.0 Results: Out of 150 mothers included in the study, 30% believed contaminated food and water cause diarrhea where as 18% viewed infections such as bacterial or viral to be the cause. A large percentage i.e. 22% could not associate any cause to the occurrence of diarrhoea.69% continued the breast feeding and normal feeding during the disease but 31% discontinued the treatment and replaced it with rice water, yogurt ,juices and mineral water available in local markets Conclusion: This study demonstrated that majority of mothers believed childhood diarrhea is caused by contamination of food and water with the bacterial and viral illness.

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