MATERIAL AND METHODSThe present stu

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The present study was carried out during
October 2001 to October 2002 in Dhinoj,
Mervada, Sunsar, Chaveli, and Railwaypura
villages of Dhinoj PHC. Out of 13 villages in
Dhinoj PHC, 5 villages were selected by
systematic random sampling method (38.76%).
Every third village was selected. Children below
five years were selected. A house to house
survey was done in families having one or more
children below 5 years of age. The selected
families were visited for three reasons
throughout the year to elicit information
regarding occurrence of diarrhea (recall period
being 12 months), etiological causes and types of
treatment, and agencies providing treatment of
diarrhea. Mothers were specifically interviewed
to elicit feeding/weaning practices during
diarrhea.
A longitudinal study was planned to find out
etiological causes and health seeking behavior
for diarrheal diseases and laboratory
investigations of selected stool samples. The
stool samples were examined microscopically by
concentration technique for presence of Ova,
cysts, cells of parasites in a private laboratory.