Association Between Diarrhea, Feeding Habits and Other Socio Demographic Factors in Children Aged 0 – 2 Years in the Buea, Tiko and Limbe Health Districts in Cameroon

Feeding practices are associated with childhood diarrhea and their severity. Most children 0 to 2years experience diarrhea. Feeding practices may play a major role in the occurrence of this disease. The present study aimed to evaluate the association between feeding practice among children below 2 years with diarrhea in Buea, Tiko and Limbe health districts. A cross sectional hospital based survey study was carried out in three Health Districts Limbe, Buea and Tiko in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. A total of 1155 mothers attending infant welfare clinics across six hospitals were included. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on feeding practices as well as socio demographic factors. The study revealed that diarrhea was more common among children whose mothers used homemade food for baby as food formula. Using just breastmilk was associated with low occurrence of diarrhea 6.9 . Generally, children from Tiko reported the significant highest cases of diarrhoea cases, where Tiko reported 25.3 P = 0.024 . Among the mothers, the age group that reported significantly P 0.001 higher prevalence of diarrhoea 27.1 was 32 – 38 years. Level of education and monthly income were significantly associated diarrhoea P 0.05 . Exclusive breastfeeding was practiced by 55.5 of the mothers, whereas complementary feeding was practiced by 45.5 of the mothers. The highest proportion of mothers who exclusively breast fed their children were from Limbe 61.6 , followed by Buea 59.3 and the least from Tiko 45.6 . The occurrence of diarrhea and its association with socio demographic factors cannot be undermined. Mukum Ijang Teche "Association Between Diarrhea, Feeding Habits and Other Socio-Demographic Factors in Children Aged 0 – 2 Years in the Buea, Tiko and Limbe Health Districts in Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-8 | Issue-3 , June 2024, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd64926.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/other-scientific-research-area/other/64926/association-between-diarrhea-feeding-habits-and-other-sociodemographic-factors-in-children-aged-0-–-2-years-in-the-buea-tiko-and-limbe-health-districts-in-cameroon/mukum-ijang-teche