Water handling, sanitation, and hygienic practices and its association with under-five childhood diarrhea among households of Kirkos sub city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old. It is more than 90% is due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and unsafe drinking water. This research is aiming to assess the water handling, sanitation and hygiene practices of mothers/caregivers and its association with under-five childhood diarrhea in Addis Ababa. Methods: A community-based cross sectional study was conducted from April – May, 2016 to selected eligible mothers/caregivers. Data was used Epi Info 3.5.1 software and SPSS V.20 for further analysis. Binary Logistic regression analysis was used to determine COR and 95% CI. Variables with p-value <0.20 in the bivariate analysis were entered in to multivariate analysis. Result: The overall prevalence was 13.6% with 95% CI (10.4-16.9) which was associated with household income level [AOR: 7.21, 95% CI (1.49, 34.92)], water storage duration [AOR: 5.10, 95% CI (1.47, 17.62)], hand washing facility [AOR: 5.70, 95% CI (1.01, 32.247)], maternal history of diarrhea [AOR: 8.03, 95% CI (1.32, 48.67)] and presence of uncollected garbage in the compound [AOR: 3.42, 95% CI (1.38, 8.49)]. Conclusion: The two-week period under five diarrhea was relatively high and lower income level, storing water for more than a week, lack of hand washing facility, uncollected garbage in the compound, and mother/caregiver history of diarrhea were variables associated with the occurrence of diarrhea.