Ethnomedicinal health seeking practices and their associated treatment outcomes in managing diarrheal diseases among under-five-year-old children in Korogwe and Handeni Districts, Tanzania: Protocol for a cross-sectional mixed method study

Background Ethnomedicinal remedies relevant for treating a range of ailments including diarrheal diseases among children aged less than five years is an integral component of the long-standing culture that communities have inherited from previous generations. The treatment also has mutual impact on the practice of health seeking behavior built within the family and clan level. Study Objective To assess ethnomedicinal health seeking practices and their associated treatment outcomes for managing diarrheal diseases among children aged below five years children in Korogwe and Handeni Districts, Tanzania Methods A mixed method approach will be employed whereby both qualitative and quantitative research approaches will be utilized. Narrative and cross-sectional research designs will be used for qualitative and quantitative research, respectively. The study population will include caretakers of under-five-year-old children, pediatric health care workers and traditional healers. Purposive sampling method will be used to select participants for qualitative research while a systematic random sampling will be used to select participants for quantitative research. Social Ecological Model (SEM) theory will be employed to elicit the target population perceptions and context-specific factors, which will explain the ethnomedicinal health seeking practices and their associated treatment outcomes in managing diarrheal diseases among under-five-year-old children in Korogwe and Handeni Districts, Tanzania. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement Funding: D.D received the funding, Funded by German Research Foundation (DFG) within the project “Genetic adaptation of non-typhoid Salmonella within human and animal reservoirs in sub-Saharan Africa”. The funder website is [www.dfg.de][1]. Grant Number 649070 The funders had and will not have a role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Not Applicable The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The present study was submitted to the UDOM Institutional Research Review Committee (UDOM IRRC) and received ethical approval (Reference number MA.84/261/02/ dated 24th May 2022). P.O.Box 259 Dodoma, Tanzania info{at}udom.ac.tz I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Not Applicable I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Not Applicable I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Not Applicable Research data will be made publicly available when the study is completed and published. [1]: http://www.dfg.de