Home treatment of acute diarrhoea in Bali, Indonesia.

To determine how acute diarrhoea is managed at home, 75 structured interviews were conducted with mothers of children under two years of age who were admitted to hospitals or health centres in Denpasar district, Bali. Most mothers did not follow the guidelines for home case management established by the World Health Organization (WHO) Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases (CDD) Programme. Sixty eight percent of the mothers reported giving oral rehydration therapy (ORT) to their children with diarrhoea, and over half of these children were given home made salt-sugar-solutions (SSS). However, only 12% of the mothers were able to properly make the SSS. Over two thirds of the mothers reduced or stopped the intake of bottled milk and solid food during the episode. Forty-five percent of breast-feeding mothers increased the frequency of feeding. Over half of the mothers gave drugs to their children, 90% of which were obtained from the physicians or health post personnel. These results indicate that more effective ways to implement the proper home-case management of diarrhoea are needed.