Household Illness Prevalence and its Determinants among Under five Children in Gambella Special Wereda, South West Ethiopia
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Date
2006-07
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
A community based cross sectional survey was done in Gambella special wereda to determine the
household illness prevalence and its determinants among under five children. A total of 831 children
were included in the study. The household illness prevalence was 50.6%. The most common types of
illnesses were diarrhea (20.5%), malaria (17.8%), cough/shortness of breath (6.7%), fever (6.6%),
measles (0.5%) and other illnesses (7.2%).
With regard to malnutrition, the prevalence of stunting was 37.3% wasting, 26.4%, underweight
29.2% and mid upper arm circumference less or equal to 13.5 centimeters was 26.0%.
The factors associated with household illness were area of residence, income, stunting, underweight,
time of initiation of breastfeeding, bed net in household, immunization for measles, uvulectomy,
milk teeth extraction, and pre lacteal feeding (p<0.05).
Majority (80.1 %) of mothers’ breast feed their child for more than 6 months and 63.4% breast feed
for more than 12 months. Overall, 83.8 % of households owned bed net and about 73.9% of
households had insecticide treated bed net less than six months ago.
About 17.0% of households get safe and continuous water supply for drinking (20.7% urban vs.7.3%
rural). With regard to excreta disposal system 38.1% of households have access to excreta disposal
(52.2% urban and 4.1% of rural). About 63.0% of households use open field (47.8% of urban
households and 95.5% of rural households).
With regard to immunization, 64.8% of children were immunized for BCG, 64.8% for polio, 60.1%
for DPT, and 50.1% for measles. About 68.4% of mothers had ever followed ANC during the recent
pregnancy. More urban women followed ANC than rural (81.8% urban vs.36.5% rural) delivery
service 45.6% (57.6% urban vs.16.9% rural), current family planning method use 28.2% (36.1%
urban vs. 8.8% rural). About 12.9% of children had uvulectomy, 35.6% had milk teeth extraction,
and 44.0% were given prelacteal feeding.
This study showed that household illness and malnutrition were common health problems in
Gambella special wereda with their peculiarities from other regions. Based on the findings of the
study, development of region specific guidelines within the framework of national guideline on the
management of childhood illnesses and malnutrition which are common in the area with subsequent
training of health workers at all levels, household intervention programs targeting the frequently
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seen illnesses, malnutrition and risk factors to reduce burden of illness and death in the under five
children is recommended
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Keywords
Household Illness Prevalence