Diarrhoeal diseases are still the major cause of morbidity and mortality among children inrnmany developing countries, including Ethiopia. There is a general agreement that the cause ofrnchild mortality and morbidity in developing countries is multi-factorial. Interaction of socioeconomic,rnbiological, behavioural and environmental factors influences the survival ofrnchildren. This comparative cross-sectional study was carried out to examine the effects ofrnsocio-economic, environmental and behavioural factors that were associated with childhoodrndiarrhoea in Meskanena Mareko Woreda, between December 2002 and January 2003.rnA total of 987 households that had at least one under-five child were randomly selected fromrnthe nine peasant associations and one urban kebele that are found in the Butajira Rural HealthrnProgram catchments. Information on the households' socio-economic, environmental andrnbehavioural characteristics was collected using structured, pre-tested questionnaire.rnDiarrhoeal morbidity occurred in the under-five children at the time of the interview, and thernsubsequent 15-days was registered to determine prevalence and incidence.rnThe findings of this study showed that the overall two-week period prevalence of diarrhoea inrnunder-fives was 51.4%, and that of incidence 12.9 percent. The point prevalence was found tornbe 38.5 percent. Significant variation was observed in prevalence of diarrhoea between urbanrnand rural areas. Children in the age group 12 â€“ 23 were highly affected. A logistic regressionrnanalysis showed that rural children had more than five times higher odds of having diarrhoearnthan their urban counterparts. The odds of having diarrhoea in children who lived inrnhouseholds where there were two or more children were two times higher than the odds inrnchildren who lived in households where there was only one child. Also, households thatrnviirndisposed refuse indiscriminately had children who had about two times higher odds of gettingrndiarrhoea than households that burned or disposed the refuse in a pit. Maternal diarrhoealrnmorbidity and current breast-feeding were also found to be significant predictors of diarrhoealrnmorbidity in children.rnFrom the study it is concluded that the prevalence of diarrhoea in under-five children is veryrnhigh in Meskanena Mareko Woreda, especially in children who reside in rural areas, and whornare younger than two years of age. Poverty, crowding and poor environmental conditions arernassociated with the occurrence of diarrhoea in children. Even though these problems may bernalleviated by sustainable socio-economic development through integrated effort of differentrnsectors in the long run, recommendations are forwarded considering short-term solutions