Abstract:
Background:-Under five morbidity and mortality from diarrheal disease can be reduced when
early care is sought. However, majority of mothers/caregivers of children with diarrheal diseases
in developing countries did not seek health care timely or not sought at all. Delayed treatment
seeking leads to chronic childhood diarrhea which can cause mal absorption, malnutrition,
growth retardation and cause long-term disability. Some of determinants are distance from health
facility, knowledge of mother and type of diarrhea. Therefore, this study aimed to identify
determinants of delay in timely treatment seeking for diarrheal diseases among
mothers/caregivers with under-five children who visit the public and private health facilities of
Ilu district, Central Ethiopia.
Methods- Institutional based unmatched case-controls was conducted from November 1 to
December 10, 2023 among 394 (197 cases and 197 controls) <5 children. Two governments and
3 private of thirteen health facilities were selected. Then determined sample size was
proportionally allocated to each selected health facilities. Data was collected by trained data
collectors using pretested questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS version 26. Descriptive analysis
was done for variable. Variables with p value of ≤ 0.25 in Bivariable logistic regression were
selected for multivariable logistic regressions. Finally statistical significance was declared at p value <0.05 and 95 % Confidence Interval (CI) for Adjusted Odds ratio (AOR).
Results- In my study, 394 (197 cases and 197 controls) children along with their mothers/
caregivers were included, providing a response rate of 100% among cases and controls. Out of,
394 (197 cases and 197 controls) children along with their mothers/caregivers, 163 (82.7%)
among cases and 148 (75.1%) of controls were <24 months. Children < 24 months were 2.5 (95
% CI = 1.23-4.98) times more likely delayed in timely treatment seeking than children ≥ 24
months. Children residing in rural area were 2.3 (95 % CI = 1.09-4.87) times more likely
delayed when compared with their urban counterparties. In addition, children with not
knowledgeable mothers/caregivers were 5.6 (95 %, CI = 2.90-10.64) more likely delayed in
timely treatment seeking than children with knowledgeable mothers/caregivers.
Conclusion and Recommendation- Age of children, caregivers knowledge about diarrhea and
residence area were determinants of delay. Strengthening preventive care and awareness creation
among mothers/caregivers were recommended.
