The Prevalence And Risk Factors Associated With Diarrhoeal Diseases Among Children Under Five Years Old In Mogadishu Somalia

The last three decades of armed conflicts, lack of functioning government, economic collapse, and disintegration of the health system and other public services – together with recurrent droughts and famines, have turned Somalia into one of the world’s most difficult environments for survival. The under-five mortality in Somalia is estimated at 200 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is one of the highest in the world. Diarrhea is the main killer; contributing to 20-25 per cent of all under- five mortality. The major objective of this study is to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with diarrhoeal diseases among children under five years old in Mogadishu-Somalia. The questionnaire of the study focused on three key areas of assessment in order to understand how they influence the occurrence of diarrhea in the under-five children: (a) demographic and socioeconomic (b) Information of the prevalence (c) the environmental factors and (d) Health system factors. The study used descriptive cross-sectional design, with a sample of 52 parents and caregivers of children under the age of five. Researcher administered structured questionnaires were used to collect data during 4th to 15th December 2021, after agreed informed consent. Data was analyzed using the MS Excel spreadsheet package and the quantitative analysis was carried out. Thereafter, the researcher made an interpretation of the frequency tables and figures and accordingly made a summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations. Seventy three percent of households reported having children who suffered from diarrhea in the past 2 weeks preceding the study. Diarrhea was also the most common disease reported by mothers/care givers among under-five children in the households, affecting 41%of the children. Diarrheal disease occurrence was highest among children of mothers who did not attend formal education school, children living in households provided water by Private Operators and among children whose main source of water was Piped water diarrhea (79%). Most parents in the household delayed taking their ill children to hospital opting to first caregivers preferred to purchase drugs from pharmacy wherever a child had diarrhea due to lack of money for consultation fees and transportation to the health facility and traditional medicines resulting in many cases of admissions at the health facilities. From the study findings it can be concluded that diarrhea was the most prevalent disease among under-fives and is more likely to occur among children whose mothers had no education, and who lived in household whose main source of drinking water was Piped water, supplied by Private Operators. In addition, the study concluded that other environmental factors had no association with diarrhea occurrence.