Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Ninety-five percent of recent mothers knowabout ORS. There is little variation in the proportion byage, residence, and province. All the women with morethan secondary education know about ORS comparedwith 88 percent of those with no education.Mothers of children who had diarrhoea in the twoweeks preceding the survey were asked what was done tomanage or treat the illness. The results are shown inTable 9.18. Mothers reported that 43 percent of theirchildren with diarrhoea were taken to a health facility.Just over half the children (53 percent) were given asolution made from oral rehydration salts (ORS), and41 percent were given increased fluids. Overall, 67 percentreceived either ORS or increased fluids. Fifteenpercent of children with diarrhoea were given pills orsyrup, less than 1 percent received injections or intravenousmedication, and 18 percent were given herbalremedies or medicines. One in five children with diarrhoeawere given no treatment at all.Children under three years are more likely to betaken to a health facility for treatment (43-47 percent)than those over 3 years of age. There are wide variationsbetween the provinces in the proportion of children withdiarrhoea who are taken for treatment, ranging from thelowest (32 percent) in Central to the highest (53 percent)in Luapula. Children with diarrhoea are more likely to betaken to a health facility if their mother has a higher levelof education. Thirty-nine percent of children with diarrhoeawhose mothers have no education are taken to ahealth facility, compared with 46 percent of those whosemothers have secondary or higher education. Use of ORSalso increases with education level of the mother.Table 9.17 Knowledge of ORS packetsPercentage of mothers with births in the five yearspreceding the survey who know about ORS packetsfor treatment of diarrhoea in children, by backgroundcharacteristics, Zambia 2001-2002––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Percentageof motherswho know NumberBackground about ORS ofcharacteristic packets mothers––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Age15-19 93.0 46720-24 94.4 1,25025-29 96.0 1,10630-34 95.7 70835-49 93.5 870ResidenceUrban 98.3 1,499Rural 92.9 2,904ProvinceCentral 97.8 319Copperbelt 98.7 765Eastern 97.0 587Luapula 92.0 371Lusaka 98.5 590Northern 92.1 649North-Western 94.3 226Southern 87.2 485Western 91.9 412EducationNo education 87.7 613Primary 95.1 2,726Secondary 97.6 977Higher 100.0 87Total 94.7 4,402Mothers are encouraged to continue feeding their children normally when they suffer fromdiarrhoea and to increase the amount of fluids children are given. These practices help to reduce thelikelihood the child will become dehydrated and also minimise the adverse consequences of diarrhoea onthe child’s nutritional status.150 | Maternal and Child Health