Abstract

Background: Millions of children are still dying as a result of the preventable diarrheal disease than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. Objective: To determine the prevalence of diarrheal disease and associated factors among under 5 children in Enemay rural district, East Gojjam zone. Methods: Community based cross sectional study was conducted on a sample size of 634.A multistage sampling technique in which seven from 34 kebeles were selected by simple random sampling and then proportional samples were drawn through systematic random sampling technique using the list of households who have children under five. The dependent variable was measured interms of the occurrence of loose/watery diarrhea for at least three times per day in the last two weeks before the survey. Data was collected through pretested structured questionnaire, and observation cheek list. It was collected by trained data collectors with the support of trained supervisors. Data were coded, cleaned and entered into SPSS version 16 for univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis. Odd ratio with the corresponding 95% CI was used to measure the degree of association. Result: The two-week prevalence of diarrhea among underfive children was 18.6 %. It was highly associated with educational status (AOR, 2.49; 95% CI (1.28,4.83))and occupation of mother (AOR, 1.78; 95%; CI 1.05,3.00); availability of proper waste disposal system in the household (AOR, 2.27;95% CI (1.40-3.68)), Measles vaccination status (AOR, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.10-0.37) and vitamin A supplementation for children under 5 years ( AOR, 3.98; 95% CI (2.42,6.53)) . Conclusion: In order to reduce the magnitude of the disease, efforts need to focus on giving health education for mothers, the community to prepare proper liquid waste disposal system and strengthening vitamin A supplementation for children under 5.