Ga. Oni, INFANT-FEEDING PRACTICES, SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND DIARRHEAL DISEASE IN A TRADITIONAL AREA OF URBAN ILORIN, NIGERIA, East African medical journal, 73(5), 1996, pp. 283-288
A cross-sectional study involving 771 children under the age of one ye
ar, was carried out in a traditional area of urban Ilorin, Nigeria, to
determine how socio-economic conditions and feeding practices relate
to diarrhoeal disease among infants. After adjustment has been made (t
hrough logistic regression) for covariates, five factors had significa
nt association with diarrhoeal disease. These are the age of the child
, parity, mother's education, availability of household kitchen and th
e feeding of semi-solid food to the infants. The lowest diarrhoeal rat
e occurred in infants aged 0-3 months while the highest rate occurred
among infants seven to nine months old (Odds Ratio=4.2). Children who
were of the fifth or higher birth order had significantly higher risk
of diarrhoea when compared with those who were of the first or second
birth order (OR= 1.62; P < 0.05). Children of mothers with secondary e
ducation had significantly higher risk of diarrhoea compared with chil
dren of illiterates (OR=1.9; P < 0.05). Households that had no kitchen
had significantly higher risk of infantile diarrhoea than households
with kitchen facilities (P < 0.01). Finally, infants receiving semisol
id food had higher risk of diarrhoea compared to those children not re
ceiving semi-solid food CP < 0.05), Diarrhoeal disease awareness campa
ign to educate mothers on the dangers of childhood diarrhoea and how t
o prevent it, through proper hygiene, especially, food hygiene, is adv
ocated.