Mothers' definition of diarrhoea in a suburban community in Tanzania.

A study was conducted in Temeke District, a suburban area of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, to assess the usefulness of a definition coined by mothers in the identification and subsequent management of diarrhoeal diseases. The mothers were asked about stool frequency and consistency of diarrhoeal episodes of their children aged under 5 and at what stage they would initiate remedial action. From their responses, seven categories of stool frequency per 12-hour period were established. Among the 630 mothers studied, it was observed that a majority of mothers (92%) would take remedial action for diarrhoea when the stool frequency was 3 or more per 12-hour period. It was, therefore, concluded that the mothers' definition for diarrhoea, being simpler, less confusing and less varied than the other definitions used commonly, could be adopted in surveys and epidemiological studies.