Spatial variations and determinants of childhood diarrhea management in Uganda

ABSTRACT

The study examines the variability of community-based and determinants of childhood diarrhea management including rehydration and feeding therapies using the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, UDHS (N = 2,923). The study utilized the Bayesian model and geo-statistical techniques with location (district) and nonlinear metrical attributes (mother’s and child’s age) to gain a better understanding of childhood diarrhea management. The results show that 45% and 58% of under-5 children received less than the usual amount of fluid and food, respectively, during diarrheal episodes. However, the findings indicate that the prevalence of diarrhea among under-5 children does vary spatially within and between subregions and districts of Uganda. The fixed effects show that the covariates have no significant influence on rehydration therapy. However, the wealth index, family size, and number of under-5 children in a household have a significant impact on feeding therapy for children with diarrhea. In general, the results indicate that geography has a significant effect on the rehydration therapy, while both geography and socioeconomic variables have a significant influence on feeding therapy on under-5 children with diarrhea. These findings can support policymakers to identify subregions and districts with ineffective practices and policy strategies to better address the spatial variations and determinants of diarrhea management in Uganda.

KEYWORDS:

• Children under-5
• diarrhea
• geo-additive logit model
• policy
• spatial variations
• Uganda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Nipissing University [Internal Research Award].