DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i02.029

Pages: 442-452

Diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is responsible for killing around 760 000 children every year. To study the determinants and the magnitude of acute diarrheal diseases one month after the cessation of the third Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip and to assess its burden among the children under five. This is cross sectional design study. Data has been collected throughout Gaza Strip. The sample size included 705 women from three governorates were surveyed out of five. Eligible women were interviewed using a pre designed, pre tested interview questionnaire. The period (last month) and the point (24 hours) prevalence rates of diarrheal diseases among children under five years were 46.1% and 17.7% respectively. The Sex of the child had no significant effect on both point and period prevalence of diarrhea. More than sixty percent (63.3%) of period prevalence of diarrhea was recorded among children that have no exclusive breastfeeding before. There are no significant differences for the point prevalence as a result of introducing the complementary feeding. Period and point prevalence rates of diarrhea were not significantly related to the room number. Both rates were higher for children in homes without refrigerators but only significant for point prevalence. It was found that 62.1% of the mother increased fluid intake, 54% of them used ORS. Drugs like anti diarrhea and herbal drugs were used by (61.4% and 40.3%) respectively of the participating mothers. Cleaning of drinking water tanks and the domestic tanks have played a role in reducing the occurrence of diarrhea among children under five with highly statistically significant between both of them. It is concluded that there was high point and period prevalence of diarrhoea still exists among children in Gaza Strip. It is recommended to start to search for diarrhoea causes to reduce its incidence.