PSPATIO-TEMPORALASSESSMENT OF THE VARIATIONIN CHILDHOOD DIARRHOEA IN OYO STATE,SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

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.