Recurrent floods and prevalence of diarrhea among under five children: observations from Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, India

BACKGROUND Diarrhea is an important problem among the under-five children in India. OBJECTIVE The paper examines long-term impacts of recurrent floods on diarrhea among under-five children in Uttar Pradesh, India. DESIGN A two stage stratified cluster survey was conducted in flood affected (exposed) and non-flood affected areas (unexposed). RESULTS The long-term impact of the floods was not clearly marked in the overall prevalence of diarrhea with the exposed group having prevalence of 55.1% as against 56.2% in the unexposed group of children under five. Economic condition of the household is associated with the prevalence of diarrhea in both exposed and unexposed strata. Anemia was found to be a significant risk factor for diarrhea among children in both the flood exposed and non-flood exposed populations. The recurrent floods did not have any significant effect on the prevalence of diarrhea in relation to gender, religion, caste, and household size. CONCLUSIONS The study indicates that the long-term impacts of floods are very differently manifested than the immediate impacts.