Machakos Project Studies: agents affecting health of mother and child in a rural area of Kenya. VII. The incidence of diarrhoeal disease in the under-five population.
The outcome of three years of fortnightly diarrhoea surveillance of about 4000 children under the age of five is described. The two-weekly incidence of diarrhoea in children in the age group 0-5 months, 6-11 months and 12-23 months, who were reported and/or observed to be ill, was 3.4%, 5.6% and 3.4% respectively. A decline in the attack rates of diarrhoea not associated with measles at the end of 1975 and the beginning of 1976 corresponds with a similar decline in the incidence of measles and malnutrition. Initially diarrhoea information was only obtained from children who where reported and/or observed to be ill; later on, all mothers were questioned about their children's diarrhoea experience at the moment of the fieldworkers's visit or in the preceding two weeks. This yielded a four to sevenfold increase in diarrhoea incidence. Thus, diarrhoea appears to be a common condition among under-fives which is not necessarily considered to be an illness by the mother.
D001294:Attitude to Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007630:Kenya; D009035:Mothers; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification