Diarrhoeal Diseases in Children : Prevalence of diarrhoeal diseases among Underfive children in rural community of Jharkhand

The crosssectional study conducted in rural community describe the prevalence of diarrhoea. The occurrence of diarrhoea was found to be significantly associated with caste, number of children, agegroup, sex and status of exclusive breast feeding, vitamin A supplementation, measles immunization and amount of fluid given during diarrhoea. The awareness about the disease was high in the community but very low in regards to its causes. Children's excreta was considered harmless in the community. The knowledge of ORS was moderate. Most people approached professionaltreatment for the advice. majority of the households were purifying water but were adopting unhygienic methods of dispensing and storing. Practice of handwashing with soap was found extremely low.