Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Practices and Their Association With Childhood Diarrhoea in Rural Households of Mayurbhanj District, Odisha, India

INTRODUCTION

Diarrhoeal disease is one of the major causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in India. It affects all ages, yet very few studies have been found regarding the young and older children affected by diarrhoea and its etiology. About 2.2 million deaths are attributed to diarrhoea alone in India every year. However, a large number of diarrhoeal cases may be avoided with proper sanitation and hygiene practices. The primary aim of this study was to assess the current water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practises among mothers and diarrhoea among their children (6 months to 11 years) in rural households of the Mayurbhanj district, Odisha. Further, the association between WASH practises and childhood diarrhoeal disease was assessed.

METHODS

A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 430 mothers by using a pre-tested structured questionnaire adapted from previous studies. Data collection was done using the software Epicollect5 by the trained data collector. The data were further transformed to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) version 23 for analysis to find out potential risk factors. A multistage sampling technique was used to find subjects.

RESULTS

Out of 430 households, 21.6% of respondents reported that their children were suffering from diarrhoea in the last two weeks from the day of the survey. Nearly 63.8% of respondents mentioned that they used to supply water as a principal source for household purposes. This study found that children of households near waste piles are more at risk of having diarrhoea than those households living far from the waste pile [AOR: 4.996; 95% CI: (2.173, 11.487)]. In the management of household wastes, households who are throwing waste here and there are 3.276 times more at risk of having diarrhoea than households who are managing the wastes by themselves by burning them outside the home [AOR: 3.276; 95%CI: (1.463, 7.042)]. In the disposal of child faeces, it was found that the household children's faeces disposed of in the garbage or dumping site are 2.438 times more at risk of having diarrhoea than those who are flushing the faeces in the latrine [AOR: 2.438; 95%CI: (1.284, 4.631)]. Also, using footwear less often was found to be highly associated with an increase in the incidence of diarrhoea (AOR: 1.634; 95% CI (.815, 3.276).

CONCLUSION

Findings indicate that creating awareness about the benefits of proper management of household waste and using footwear on a regular basis is the priority to avoid childhood diarrhoea. Further, area-specific planning and programme allocation of resources is necessary to prevent childhood diarrhoea.