Risk factors of diarrheal diseases in the south of Thailand: Buddhist and Muslim comparison

A decade ago diarrhea was the leading cause of death among children under five years of age in developing countries. At present, diarrhea is still the second place among the causes of child mortality.;This study examined various factors related to diarrheal diseases among children under five years of age in a province in the south of Thailand. Six hypotheses were formulated to guide the study relating to preventive health behaviors, socioeconomic factors, physical environment, preventive health attitudes, religion (Buddhism and Muslim) and religiosity, and the incidence of diarrhea.;Three methodological techniques were employed to assess the hypotheses; focus group discussions, a cross sectional survey, and the monitoring of the incidence of diarrhea. Focus group sessions were conducted before and after the survey. Altogether, 393 respondents were randomly selected from two sub-districts in Songkla Province for the survey; one sub-district from the Buddhist community and one sub-district from the Muslim community. These respondents were mothers and/or guardians of children under five years of age. Monitoring of the incidence of diarrhea among children was conducted for four months after the survey by interviewing the same respondents in the survey.;The results from focus groups indicate that most Buddhist respondents understood the concept of diarrhea whereas most Muslim respondents did not view mild diarrhea as diarrhea. More than half of the Buddhists drank rainwater while the Muslims did not drink rainwater at all. Both groups did not boil water from the well for drinking.;The findings from the survey and the monitoring of the incidence of diarrhea show that: (1) the incidence of diarrhea among children under five years of age did not differ significantly when their mothers practiced fewer preventive health behaviors regarding diarrhea; (2) mothers who live in a better physical environment engaged in preventive health behaviors more than mothers who lived in a poor physical environment; (3) socioeconomic factors (education and income) were not found to be significantly associated with preventive health behaviors; (4) religiosity was positively correlated to preventive health behaviors and it was stronger for Muslims than Buddhists; and (5) preventive health attitudes between Buddhists and Muslims were significantly different.