The objective of the study was to identify the knowledge,rnattitude and practice concerning current diarrheal treatment byrnrural mothers. From 11 randomly selected peasant associations inrnWolayta awraja, 6414 mothers were interviewed to determinernwhether they had children under five years of age and whether anyrnchild had diarrhea in the previous two-week period. The 654rnmothers whose children had diarrhea were interviewed about theirrnknowledge, attitudes and treatment practices for the currentrndiarrhea using a structured questionnaire. The results showedrnthat the prevalence of diarrhea in the study community was 11.1%;rn73 of the diarrheal children died indicating a mortality rate ofrn11.4 per 1000 children under five years f or 2 weeks.rnhome treatment of diarrheal cases, only 12.3%rnConcerningrnof mothersrnincreased the amount of fluid gi ven, 19.9% increased or gave thernsame amount of food, and 20.5% gave ORS or ORT to the diarrhealrnchild. Use of health institutions was found to be 7.3%.rnDeterminants of treatment practices were: 1) mothers' knowledgernabout causes and consequences of diarrhea; and 2) nature of thernchi ld' s diarrhea such as concurrent vomiting and frequency of therndiarrhea in 24 hours. Mothers preferred to seek treatment fromrndrug s hops than from health institutions despite the fact thatrnthe latter were nearer to their homes. The outcome of diarrhearnwas significantly associated with treatment practices.