Maternal Knowledge and Practice Towards Diarrhoea Management in Under Five Children in Fenote Selam Town, West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia, 2014

Introduction: Diarrhoea is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in under five Children all over the world, special in developing counters due to lack of Knowledge and practice in Diarrhoeal disease management. Objective: The main aim of this study was to assess mothers’ knowledge and practice among mothers who have under five children, in Fenote Selam Town, West Gojjam zone, Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study deign was conducted. The study was done from April- May, 2014. To determine the sample size a single proportional formula was used. According to this formula the sample size of the study was 846. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed in order to select the study areas and study units. Among five kebeles, two kebeles were selected by simple random sampling techniques. Standardized interview questionnaires were adapted and modified from related articles and journals to collect data on the socio-demographic variables and factors associated with it. Pre-test was done in none sampling kebeles. Data were entered into Epi-info (version 3.5.1) statistical software package then exported to SPSS software package version 16.0 for further analysis. Results: A total of 846 participants were included in the study. Of these, the response rate was 830(98.1%). Five hundred twenty eight 528(63.6%) of them had good knowledge and 381(45.9%) of them had good practice. Conclusion: The finding of this research indicated that 63.6% of mothers had good knowledge towards Diarrhoea management while 54.1% of mothers had poor practice on Diarrhoea management.