Awareness claims versus actual knowledge of oral rehydration therapy and the salt sugar solution in northeastern Nigeria

Focus group discussions involving rural and urban residents drawn from Kanuri and Bura settlements, were conducted as part of an an-going survey of the perception and treatment of diarrhoea among major ethnic groups in northeastern Nigeria. Awareness of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) was universal among participants, but knowledge of its function and the preparation of the sugar salt solution (SSS) was markedly deficient among the Kanuris, especially in rural areas. Reported SSS use parallel the knowledge of ORT function/SSS preparation and seemed heightened by church-fellowship activities among the rural Buras. Surprisingly, tasting was apparently not realised by participants to be an important step in SSS preparation. These preliminary results suggest that knowledge of ORT function and SSS preparation need further emphasis in ORT awareness campaigns, and that religion-based activities could be a potent and actualizable method of ORT promotion.