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Background Almost half of the estimated 5.3 million deaths of under-five children in 2018 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa with morbidity contributing substantially to these deaths. Seeking medical care for children has been described as an important measure of reducing mortality occasioned by morbidity. This study examined factors influencing mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods This study made use of data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study involved 75,982 children who received or did not receive measles vaccine and 93,142 children who sought or did not seek medical care when affected by fever or cough and diarrhoea. Binary logistic regression was applied in the analysis. Results Most of the children (74%) received measles vaccine while less than one-fifth sought medical care for fever or cough (16%) and diarrhoea (10%). Majority of the children of women who received measles vaccine and sought medical care when they had fever or cough are from richest households. Children of women with primary and secondary or higher education, children of working women and children of women that attended antenatal care during pregnancy are more likely to seek medical care for fever or cough. While children of women who live in urban areas and children of second or higher order of birth are less likely to receive measles vaccine, children aged 24–35 months and those who were of average size at birth are less likely to seek medical care for diarrhoea. Conclusions This study has revealed that mothers’ health care seeking behaviour for their children is influenced by social, maternal and child factors. Any intervention aimed at improving child health in sub-Sharan Africa should take these factors into consideration.

Background Intestinal protozoa are parasites transmitted by consumption of contaminated water and food and mainly affect children and elder people and cause considerable health problems. They are the leading causes of outpatient morbidity due to diarrhea in the developing countries. So, assessing water and food source of diarrheal patients and identifying the main associated factors for transmission of protozoan parasitic infections help for effective control measures of protozoan infections. Hence, the current study was aimed at determining the prevalence of foodborne intestinal protozoa infections and associated factors among diarrheic patients in North Ethiopia. Methods A health facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among 223 patients with watery diarrhea in four selected government health facilities in North Ethiopia from November 2016–June 2017. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demography of study participants and factors associated with foodborne protozoa infections. The diarrheic stool samples were collected, transported, and processed using direct wet mount, formal-ether concentration and modified ZiehlNeelson staining methods. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and descriptive statistics, bi-variate, and multivariate logistic regressions were computed. P-value

Background This article presents the development of a school handwashing programme in two different sub-Saharan countries that applies the RANAS (risk, attitudes, norms, ability, and self-regulation) systematic approach to behaviour change. Methods Interviews were conducted with 669 children enrolled in 20 primary schools in Burundi and 524 children in 20 primary schools in Zimbabwe. Regression analyses were used to assess the influence of the RANAS behavioural determinants on reported handwashing frequencies. Results The results revealed that, in both countries, a programme targeting social norms and self-efficacy would be most effective. In Burundi, raising the children’s perceived severity of the consequences of contracting diarrhoea, and in Zimbabwe, increasing the children’s health knowledge should be part of the programme. Conclusions The school handwashing programme should create awareness of the benefits of handwashing through educational activities, raise the children’s ability and confidence in washing hands at school through infrastructural improvements, and highlight the normality of washing hands at school through events and poster creation.

BackgroundIn developing countries diarrhoeal diseases take a big toll which can be prevented by adequate supply of safe drinking water. Thus a longitudinal study was taken up to determine the morbidity due to water borne diseases and bacteriological quality of waterMethod 150 homes in two areas, one supplied by bore well and other by tap water was selected by modified cluster sampling. Weekly morbidity details collected. Monthly water samples were assessed for bacteriological quality from main supply, household storage and morbidity reported.ResultsThe difference in proportion of potable and non potable water storage was statistically significant. Potable water is water which is fit for consumption by humans and other animals. The overall incidence rate of target diseases was 3.58%, majority were diarrhoeal diseases with increased incidence in children less than five years. The incidence in areas with bore well supply was 3.8% and in area with tap water was 3.43%. ConclusionThere are various ways in which drinking water can be contaminated along the route of distribution to the consumers. The most effective method to prevent infections is surveillance and treatment of drinking water quality at point of consumption.

This study was done in Basrah Maternity and Child hospital from January 2002 till the end of December 2002 to determine the proportion of children less than two years of age with diarrheal diseases among hospitalized children and to study the morbidity and mortality of these patients. A child less than two years of age with diarrhea represents the leading cause of hospitalization and constituted (35%) of the total admission during the study period. Infants less than one year of age represent (64.9%) of all cases of diarrhea and the remaining were above one year of age. About (74.9%) of these cases were acute diarrhea and (25.1%) were chronic cases. Age of less than one year and associated malnutrition were the two most important predictors of development of chronic diarrhea. Sex of patients did not influence the occurrence of acute and chronic diarrhea. The duration of diarrhea and the age of patient determined the outcome of cases. Acute cases among infants less than one year of age have higher mortality than those children above one year of age. No death reported for acute cases above one year. The case fatality for chronic diarrhea was (49 % for under I year and 7.15 % for those above 1 year) and it is about 8 times more than that of acute cases. This mortality rate is more than the reported rate in the literatures by about two times, reflecting the need for improving the management of these of children.