Prevalence and Mortality Rate of Diarrhoeal Infection on Under-Five Children with A Special Reference to Adamawa State, Nigeria

WHO defines diarrhoea as the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day in a period exceeding seven days. Diarrhoea is a common sign of many infections in an intestinal tract that is usually caused by different virus, bacteria and parasitic entities. Globally, diarrhoea accounts for almost 1.3 million deaths annually among under-five children making it the second most common cause of childhood mortality after pneumonia (Manetu, M’masi & Recha, 2021). Despite a fall in childhood diarrhoeal disease from 4.6 million to 0.8 million over the last three decades, about 1.8 million children die annually (Hashi, et al., 2016). Nigeria, with diarrhoea point prevalence of 18.8%, accounts for an estimated 150,000 deaths yearly among children under five years of age (Peter & Umar, 2018). This study used Ex Post facto design with retrospective data between 2001 and 2022. The study revealed the lowest and highest prevalence rate of diarrhoeal infection with 6,541 and 10,490 cases per 100,000 in 2004 and 2017 respectively. However, the study also revealed the child mortality rate due diarrhoeal infection with 14 deaths per 1,000 livebirths in 2003 before it declined to 6 in 2005, raised to 10 in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Furthermore, the child mortality rate then fluctuated between the period of 2014 to 2021, before it finally dropped to 1 death per 1,000 livebirths in 2022. The results from this research will serve as a spring board for policy formulation and implementation of Government/NGOs/Community Health Programmes in Adamawa State Nigeria.