Recurrent floods and prevalence of diarrhea among under five children: observations from Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Background : Diarrhea is an important problem among the under-five children in India.

Objective : The paper examines long-term impacts of recurrent floods on diarrhea among under-five children in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Design : A two stage stratified cluster survey was conducted in flood affected (exposed) and non-flood affected areas (unexposed).

Results : The long-term impact of the floods was not clearly marked in the overall prevalence of diarrhea with the exposed group having prevalence of 55.1% as against 56.2% in the unexposed group of children under five. Economic condition of the household is associated with the prevalence of diarrhea in both exposed and unexposed strata. Anemia was found to be a significant risk factor for diarrhea among children in both the flood exposed and non-flood exposed populations. The recurrent floods did not have any significant effect on the prevalence of diarrhea in relation to gender, religion, caste, and household size.

Conclusions : The study indicates that the long-term impacts of floods are very differently manifested than the immediate impacts.

• diarrhea
• recurrent flood
• under-five children
• Uttar Pradesh

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted as part of the European Union 6th Framework Programme Microdis Integrated Project GOCT-CT-2007-036877. The authors take responsibility of the views expressed in the article. Ethical clearance for the present study was obtained from the Ethical Committee of Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi.