Availability and Use of Low-Osmolarity Oral Rehydration Solution and Zinc Supplementation in the Management of Childhood Diarrhoea by Primary Health Care Providers in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the availability of simple and effective lifesaving treatment and basic interventions, diarrhoea has remained the leading killer disease in children, accounting for 9% of all deaths among children under 5 years of age. Every minute approximately one child dies from diarrhoea, which translates into over 1,400 children dying each day from readily preventable diarrheal diseases. Hence this study was carried out to determine the availability and extent of use of low osmolarity ORS and zinc supplementation in the management of childhood diarrhoea. The study was a descriptive cross sectional research design carried out among health care providers working in government-owned Primary Health Centres across the 27 LGAs of Imo State. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data from randomly selected health care providers. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. Out of the 340 healthcare providers who participated in the study, only 63.8% of respondents had supplies of L-ORS and zinc supplementation available in their facilities which implies that a significant number of facilities (36.2%) had no supplies of L-ORS and Zinc supplementation available for the management of childhood diarrhoea. 74.4% of the respondents procured L-ORS and Zinc supplementation from Pharmacies to supplement the limited supplies from NGOs and the government. 88.5% of the respondents checked for the expiration of supplies to ensure the potency before use, and 82.6% of the respondents ensured regular stock checks to prevent stock-out-of supplies, this however did not translate to 100% availability across facilities. Majority of the respondents (nurses: 92.9%, CHEW/JCCHEW: 79.9%, CHOs: 86.5%; Health Assistants: 76.6%) always used L-ORS and Zinc supplementation in the management of childhood diarrhoea even though some of the care providers (nurses: 5%, CHEW/JCCHEW: 64%; CHOs: 55.8%; Health Assistants: 59.4%) still preferred the use of antibiotics. Also findings from the study demonstrated a higher potential for using L-ORS and Zinc supplementation (p-value = 0.03) between availability and use of L-ORS and zinc supplementation in the management of childhood diarrhoea, hence availability could translate to more use. There is therefore need for the government to ensure adequate availability and also strengthen measures to improve the use of L-ORS and zinc supplementation for the management of childhood diarrhoea across Primary Health Centres in Imo State.