Abstract:
Among some of the diseases of public health importance in the Tema metropolis, diarrhoea
has consistently been one of the five most prevalent diseases (DHMT report 2006). Though
there had been some work done on hospital based surveillance for severe diarrhoea to assess
the burden of disease due to rotavirus, it did not extend beyond the hospital setting. However,
home management is usually the initial approach adopted by caregivers of children with
acute diarrhoea. This study therefore sought to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices
of home management of diarrhoea by caregivers in community one, Tema, so as to improve
on home management practices for children under five years of age. The study was a crosssectional
descriptive one using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative
data was captured using a semi-structured questionnaire to interview 250 caregivers of
children under five years. The qualitative aspect involved in- depth interviews with two
herbalists, four chemical sellers and three pharmacists to determine how each of them went
about the management of diarrhoea. Cluster sampling method was used to select the study
units. Majority (53.6%) of the caregivers responded they had heard of diarrhoea whilst less
than half 116(46.4%) could correctly define what diarrhoea is. Some of the perceived causes
of diarrhoea by respondents were contaminated food and water, germs and sugary foods.
Most caregivers responded that they will first give ORS 163(65.2%) as a first line of action
whilst 35(14.0%) said they will first consider a health facility. The study revealed that 94.4%
of the respondents could correctly identify ORS whilst 79.2% of them had used it in the
management of childhood diarrhoea. However, only 23.6% of caregivers knew the functions
of ORS to the child with diarrhoea. The findings also showed that 19(7.6%) of the
respondents thought it was beneficial to give enema to the child with diarrhoea.
