Influencing Factors Of Diarrhea Prevalence Among Under Two Children In Bangladesh

According to the World Health Organization,diarrhea is the second largest cause of mortality in children under five,accounting for around 525,000 annual deaths.Despite diarrhea preventive interventions in Bangladesh,children still suffer from diarrhea mortality.Although the disease is preventable and manageable,information related to individual,community-level,and behavioral factors affecting diarrhea is limited,especially among under two children in Bangladesh.That leads difficult to reduce the number of children in Bangladesh experiencing diarrhea.Thus,this study aimed to examine the influence of individual-level factors and behavioral-and community-level factors on diarrhea prevalence in children under two years in Bangladesh.The outcome of this study may provide policymakers and practitioners with appropriate policy recommendations to prevent diarrhea in children under two years.The demographic and health survey(DHS)data of Bangladesh 2017-2018 was used in this study,which is a secondary,cross-sectional,and nationally representative survey.This study sample size restricts children <24 months of age who lived with their mothers.Descriptive and logistic regressions were conducted in STATA version 16 to analyze the prevalence of diarrhea.This study showed that the overall prevalence of diarrhea among children aged 0-24 months in Bangladesh was 8.04% in 2017-2018.This study also indicated that children aged 6-11 months(9.93%)and 12-17 months(11.48%)had a higher diarrhea prevalence.Whereas children aged0-3 months had the lowest diarrhea prevalence(2.55%).Children with younger mothers aged15-24 years had the highest diarrhea prevalence 8.83%,while children with older mothers aged35-49 years had the lowest diarrhea prevalence at 3.74%.Similarly,mothers with higher education had the lowest diarrhea prevalence among their children at 6.85%.In conclusion,diarrhea is prevalent among under two children in Bangladesh.Diarrhea prevalence was influenced by child age.In contrast,mothers of higher age and higher educational levels decreased diarrhea prevalence in children.Therefore,this study suggests that focusing on diarrhea in children aged 6-17 months,younger mothers,and women’s education may improve child health and reduce diarrhea prevalence in children.This study recommends that promoting women’s education may improve children’s health.In addition,childcare practices,family planning,and maternal and child health(MCH)programs involving older family members might benefit younger mothers and their children.Recommendations also include a diarrhea control program that may be more effective if targeted to mothers with children 6-17 months.Various forms of breastfeeding,child selffeeding,and handwashing with soap and water might be initiated to promote child feeding for different ages which could reduce the burden of diarrhea in children.Moreover,the inequities in the prevalence of diarrhea among children may be reduced by adopting preventive measures across Bangladesh.