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Diarrhea is known to be the major cause of mortality in children aged less than five years old. Although mortality from diarrheal disease is decreasing globally, morbidity is not. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of diarrhea among under-fives and assess knowledge on causes of diarrhea among adults in Mkuranga district Tanzania.

Interviews with heads of households and observations were the methods of data collection employed by this study.

The prevalence of diarrhea in children below the age of five years as reported by heads of households was 6.1% and most affected were children in age groups 12 – 17 and 18 – 23 months (11.6% and 15.8% respectively; p – value 0.001). The rate of diarrhea incidence was 1 episode per 10 children per week. The mean …