Publications

This study aimed to analyze the determinants impacting diarrhea incidence among childrenunder five at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital, Western Uganda. Through a cross-sectionalinvestigation, quantitative data was collected via self-administered and investigator-ledquestionnaires utilizing digital tools such as Google Sheets for both online and offline datacollection. From a randomized sample of 323 caregivers selected through conveniencesampling, a diarrhea prevalence of 27.3% among children under five was observed at the timeof data collection as reported by caregivers. Among the children studied, 136 (43.7%) weremale, and 175 (56.3%) were female. The average age of the participants was 2 years with astandard deviation of 1.25 years. The analysis revealed higher rates of diarrhea amongchildren aged 1 and 3 years, constituting 24 (28%) cases in each group, followed by 20 cases(24%) in the 2-year-old group. Additionally, 12 (14%) cases were reported in children aged 6-11 months, while only 5 (6%) cases were found in 4-year-olds out of the total 85 reportedcases of diarrhea. Regarding breastfeeding practices, 11 (3.7%) children were breastfed 1-3times a day, 77 (26.1%) were breastfed 3-5 times, 150 (50.8%) were breastfed 5-7 times, 34(11.5%) were breastfed 7-9 times, and 23 (7.8%) were breastfed more than 9 times a day. Theintroduction of supplementary food varied with 25 (8.0%) initiated at 3-4 months, 80 (25.7%)at 5-6 months, and the majority, 181 (58.2%), introduced to supplementary food after 6months. The study highlighted maternal occupation influencing weaning practices; 152(48.9%) of mothers who weaned their children at 2 years were self-employed, followed by 56(18.0%) engaged in casual labor and 36 (11.6%) in civil service. Merely 6 (1.9%) civil servantmothers, 47 (15.1%) self-employed, and 14 (4.5%) casual laborers practiced weaning at threeyears of age. The elevated prevalence of diarrhea (27.3%) was associated with factors such ashealth-seeking behavior, early introduction of supplementary foods, premature weaning, andbreastfeeding frequency. Notably, exclusive breastfeeding practices were scarce, withmothers introducing other foods early and weaning their children prematurely.Keywords: Diarrhoea, Children under five, Breastfeeding, Weaning, Supplementary foods.