The present study used the 1995-96 Pakistan Integrated
Household Survey data to determine the socio-economic, demographic, and
environmental covariates of both prevalence and duration of diarrhoea
among children under five in Pakistan. Seven logit models were estimated
to determine factors influencing the probability of occurrence of
diarrhoea. Seven Proportional Hazards Models were used to examine
factors determining the duration of diarrhoea. Results revealed that
around 20 percent of children under five suffered from diarrhoea in the
30 days prior to the survey. Child’s age was negatively associated with
diarrhoea morbidity. Children who had measles immunisation were less
likely than children without this immunisation to have diarrhoea. The
study also revealed that in controlling the occurrence of diarrhoea
among children, sanitation facilities seemed to be more important than
the supply of drinking-water. With respect to the duration of diarrhoea,
the hazard models showed that younger children, particularly under the
age of two, were relatively at a greater risk to suffer from longer
diarrhoea episode. The use of Nimkol (ORT) showed a significant and
positive effect on recovering quickly from the diarrhoea morbidity. The
findings of the study suggest that mothers should be given health
education so that they are familiar with the simply prepared treatment,
Nimkol, and have knowledge about personal hygiene, and specially of
preparing supplementary foods for children.