Abstract:
This study examined the spatial and temporal variation of reported diarrhoea cases
among children in Oyo State; analyzed the perception of mothers on the causes and
prevention of diarrhoea and also predicted the future occurrence of diarrhoea among children
in Oyo state. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data were obtained
through the administration of a well-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire sought
information on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of mothers and also
sought information on the perception of mothers on the general belief, cause and prevention
of diarrhoea. Ibadan South-East LGA recorded the highest number of cases for the study
period. Purposive random sampling technique was used to select 2 communities from each
political ward across the 12 political wards of the LGA, 504 copies of questionnaire were
administered while 408 copies were retrieved and analyzed. Secondary data include
population data, record of reported cases of diarrhoea in the 33 LGAs in Oyo State between
2006 and 2015 were obtained from the Department of Research Planning and Statistics,
Ministry of Health, Ibadan Oyo State which was geocoded to the shape-file and was used as
the base-map after the needed topographic features were delineated. Results showed that
Ibadan north, Ibadan north east, Ibadan south east, Ibadan south west, and Saki west recorded
between 1501 and 2500 cases. This implies that the LGAs with the dominant number of cases
are within the state capital except Saki west. Also, assessment of the mothers’ perceptions on
the causes of diarrhoea in Ibadan south east LGA suggests that mothers have poor
understanding of the causes of the disease among children in which majority of the mothers
(>70%) attributed diarrhoea to teething issue among children. Furthermore, the tendency for
an increase in the incidence of diarrhoea at Atiba, Ido, Saki West, Oyo West, and Ibadan
Metropolis by year 2030 indicates that it is unlikely that Oyo State meets the expectation of
improved health cases and healthy living of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), if
appropriate measures are not put in place.
