A Retrospective Study to Examine Nutrition Based Risk and Protective Factors in Relation to Diarrhoea Incidence in Children Aged Less Than Two Years in Tanzania

Background: Diarrhea disorders account for a significant portion of the morbidity and mortality burden among children in resource-constrained settings, and they are economically significant to both families and health systems. In real sense, any intervention that has shown the potential to reduce diarrhea-related mortality and morbidity is valuable in terms of the global child health agenda.

Objective: To explore the role of nutrition based risk and protective factors on diarrhea morbidity among children aged less than two years in Tanzania.

Methods: We analyzed household-based data on risks and preventive interventions including exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, water, sanitation hygiene, and vitamin A supplementation. Data from the Tanzania Demographic Health Survey (TDHS) of 2015/2016 were used to describe odds of diarrhoea morbidity in children aged 0-5 months and 6-23 months. Multivariate logic regression models were developed to identify risk factors.

Results: Children aged less than 5 months, who were exclusively breastfed experienced a reduction in the odds of having diarrhoea by 72% (P-value <0.001), compared to those who were not exclusively breastfed. Children aged between 6 months and less than 23 months, from families with detergent at hand washing facility, experienced a reduction in the odds of having diarrhoea by 37% (P-value <0.01), compared to their peers in the other group. Diarrhoea odds were predicted to be higher in higher wealth quintile as compared to lowest group by 1.39 (P-value =0.028), 1.53 (P-value <0.01), 1.74 (P-value <0.01) and 1.78 (P-value =0.01) for second, middle, fourth to highest groups respectively.

Conclusions: The data has demonstrated the important role of exclusive breastfeeding and sanitation on diarrhoea occurrence amongst children aged less than 23 months in Tanzania. Yet there are areas for which it remains inconclusive and requires further work to improve insights and strength of available evidence so far.