Diarrhoea morbidity in an urban area of southwest Ethiopia.

A diarrhoea morbidity survey was conducted in children between the ages of six and 59 months in Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia. Nearly 37% of the 820 children surveyed had one or more episodes of diarrhoea over a period of one month preceding the study. Although several factors showed significant association with diarrhoea morbidity on bivariate analysis, child's age, immunisation status, father's ethnicity, family income and availability of latrine were the only significant variables on multivariate analysis. Based on the study results feasible intervention measures are recommended.