Folk beliefs that have challenged health care workers in the past (21) were still evident in our study. A small group of caregivers endorsed the idea of giving a child with gastroenteritis a "washout," or laxative, in the form of a bush tea. While giving a child with gastroenteritis a bush tea may indeed stop the diarrhea, the ensuing dehydration will be far more harmful. When caregivers understand that it is the dehydration and not the diarrhea that is life-threatening, they will be less likely to believe in giving a washout.
The majority of the caregivers interviewed believed that "teething water" causes diarrhea. This can be dangerous if the caregivers assume that teething children who have diarrhea are undergoing a normal phase of development and that no special treatment is needed. It makes sense for caregivers to have observed that teething children are more prone to diarrhea. Children at this age tend to start being weaned and thus lose the protection of breast milk (22). They also may be exposed to food-borne germs, and they are likely crawling around exploring the world via their mouths. Rather than emphasizing the actual etiology of the diarrhea, as health education efforts have done in the past, it might be more useful to teach caregivers to give ORS to prevent and treat dehydration when a child has diarrhea, regardless of its cause.