Caregivers’ Knowledge, Practice And Associated Factors Towards Oral Rehydration Salt With Zinc To Treat Diarrhea Among Under Five Children In Burayu Town, Oromia, Ethiopia,2021

Abstract

Background: Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in under-five children of Ethiopia. Millions of young lives could be saved if mothers know and practice the three rules of diarrhea management: giving extra fluid (particularly ORS), zinc and giving additional food during diarrhea illness. But, caregivers still prefer alternative treatment than ORS &zinc. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine mothers/caregivers‟ Knowledge, Practice and associated factors towards ORS with zinc to treat diarrhea among under-five children in Burayu Town, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2021. Methods: A Community based cross sectional study was conducted among 422 study participants from September 25 to October 10, 2022; in Burayu town Administration. Systematic random sampling technique was used to enroll study subject in two randomly selected kebeles. Interviewer administrated structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered into Epi-info version 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS Version 21 for analysis. Bi-variable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were computed. Odds ratio of explanatory variables with 95% CI was used to declare association at P-value of < 0.05. Result: The finding showed that 59 % and 52 % of the respondents had good knowledge and practice towards ORS with Zinc respectively. Independent predictors such as Being housewives[AOR=0.407,95%CI:.195,.848], attainment of primary education [AOR=3.246, 95%CI:[1.614,6.530], secondary education[AOR=2.753,95%CI:[1.226,6.181], above secondary education[AOR=6.995:95%CI:[3.288,14.883], getting income of >4000[AOR=5.132,95%CI[1.947,13.524], behavior of not taking action for health seeking during diarrhea episodes[AOR=0.369, 95%CI:[0.139,0.979], and health seeking behavior to government health facility[AOR=3.92, 95%CI [1.772,8.671], being divorced[AOR=0.275, 95%CI:[0.09,0.842] were found to be significantly associated with knowledge towards management of diarrhea with ORS and zinc. Also, Housewives in occupation [AOR=0.084, 95%CI: [0.029, 0.243], secondary and above educated [AOR=6.26:95%CI: [1.51, 25.86], taken to government health facility for health seeking [AOR=6.885,95%CI: [2.29, 20.67] ,having good knowledge [AOR=22.14,95%CI:[ 8.44, 58.07] were found to be significantly associated with practice towards management of diarrhea with ORS and zinc. Conclusion & Recommendations: Still there is low level of knowledge & practice of caregivers toward ORS with zinc. Thus, health education and awareness creation for the mothers/care givers on management of diarrhea is very crucial.