ABSTRACT
This study investigates the effects of socioeconomic and health programme factors on preventive and curative health behaviors and assesses the impact of preventive health behaviors on the incidence of diarrhoea among children under five years of age. Methodological approaches included focus groups to uncover local definitions of diarrhoeal disease, a baseline survey which collected data on maternal preventive health behaviors for 1,364 children, and a monitoring system which collected data on the incidence of diarrhoea and on maternal curative behaviors among the same group of children. Results indicate that socioeconomic status and exposure to health programmes showed significant relationships with selected maternal preventive behaviors. Children whose mothers washed their hands before breastfeeding, gave their child food immediately after cooking and warmed foods each time before meals had significantly lower proportions with diarrhoea than children of mothers who did not practice these behaviors, and 70 percent of the children with diarrhoea were exposed to high risk of severe dehydration and related health complications. Implications of these findings for health programmes are discussed.
