Case histories show how things actually happen.
Households in which children are sick with diarrhea can be found by asking, for example, community health workers or neighborhood children, or by going from house to house asking if there are any young children and if any of them are sick. Try to record at least 20 case histories. Do not identify cases from clinic attendance lists. Cases taken to clinics or health centers may be very different from those that are managed entirely in the home. Next determine when the episode started.