The relationship between water quality and diarrheoal diseases in children under-five years of age in Madlenya community, Eswatini

M.A.Abstract: Background: The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini is a signatory to the United Nations and therefore joined members to pledge reduction of extreme poverty by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016. The Ministry of Health through the Environmental Health Department promotes, among other things, water, sanitation and hygiene which are in line with fulfilling goal number 6 of the SDGs. This research study seeks to assist the Ministry of Health to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals listed above through the collection of country specific data on diarrheoal diseases. The study was conducted at Madlenya community in the Lubombo region. Methods: The research is a cross sectional analytical study with a predesigned questionnaire administered to parents or guardians of children under-five years of age at Madlenya community. The study collected and analyzed six-month retrospective data on diarrheoal diseases in children at Madlenya. Diarrheoa clinical history of children, water transportation, storage practices, water treatment and socio-demographic data was collected using a pre-designed questionnaire and analyzed to ensure that the relationship between water quality and diarrheoal diseases in children is well comprehended. The questionnaire was pre-tested before being administered to parents/guardians of children to ensure validity and reliability. Results: In total, there were 391 parents/guardians interviewed in the study, 224 children had been diagnosed with diarrheoal diseases during the 6 months’ study period and, 167 had no diarrheoal diseases. Out of the 224 children with diarrheoal diseases, 106 children had watery diarrheoa and 118 had bloody diarrheoa, which are some of the symptoms associated with Rotavirus and Dysentery respectively. The period prevalence of diarrheoal diseases at Madlenya was calculated to be 57.27 per 100 children. Parents/guardians utilizing river and unprotected dug well were 8.20 and 9.60 times respectively likely to have children with diarrheoal diseases with odds ratios (COR: 8.20; 95% CI 2.79 – 24.11) and (COR: 9.60; 95% CI 2.94 – 31.30) indicating statistically significant results with unprotected dug well with a more likely adjusted odds ratio of (AOR: 2.88; 95% CI 1.50 – 5.55). Conclusion: It can be concluded from the study that poor hygiene, absence of sanitary facilities, poor water treatment methods, are a major contributing factor to diarrheoal diseases and water contamination in children under-five years of age