Abstract :
Background: Diarrhoea continues to plaque the developing worldresulting in morbidity of 1.7 billionand mortality of 5.25 lakhsin under- five childrenIn India diarrhea is 3 most common cause of death among under-five children with morbidity of 11.6 million and mortality of 1300 deaths and thus causing 8% of deaths per yearZinc has a major role in prevention of diarrhea.
Aim: To assess the knowledge and practices of mothers of under-five children regarding zinc supplementation for prevention of childhood diarrhea, to find out the reasons for not supplementing Zinc during diarrhoeal episodes, to find out association between socio-demographic factors and awareness of zinc supplementation.
Materials and Methods : Hospital based cross sectional analytical study was conducted among 200 mothers of underfive children in outpatient department of Paediatrics of a tertiary care hospital. The data was entered in predesigned semistructured questionnaire. Data was analysed by EPI INFO 7 software.
Results and Conclusion: Only 18(9%) mothers were aware about use of Zn supplementation to the under-five children in childhood diarrhoea. Only 10 mothers administered zinc supplementation in childhood diarrhea. Unawareness regarding Zn supplement was common reason mentioned for not giving Zn supplementation. Association was found between religion, type of family and awareness of Zn supplementation. There is a need to increase awareness of mothers regarding zinc supplementation by conducting health education sessions.
Keyword :
knowledge, practice, Zn supplementation, Childhood diahhoea