Maternal and child level factors associated with childhood (0-23 months) diarrhoea in Ghana: a pooled analysis of national representative datasets

Abstract

In Ghana, diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to examine maternal and child level factors associated with diarrhoea among children in Ghana. A weighted group of 4,821 mother-child dyads was used for the analysis. The analysis was restricted to mothers with children under 2 years of age. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed on the pooled data. The pooled prevalence of diarrhoea among the children was 18 per cent. It was found that children older than five months, rural children, children whose mothers had 24 months or more preceding birth interval, and those houses’ floors made of unimproved materials were more likely to have had experienced diarrhoea. While children with mothers who obtained secondary or higher education and those had access to unimproved sources of drinking water reported less occurrence of diarrhoea. Maternal and child factors have some effects on the occurrence of diarrhoea among children less than two years in Ghana. To decrease the prevalence of childhood diarrhoea in the country, more educative programmes are required for mothers whose children are more likely to having frequent episodes of diarrhoea. Keywords: