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.