Trachoma prevention practice among mothers with child age of under-9 years and factors associated in rural district of Oromia Region, Ethiopia: Community based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Worldwide, 2.2 million people are visually impaired, and nearly 1.2 million people are irreversibly blind because of Trachoma. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to infection, as they are often the primary caregivers of children, and children are the greatest source of infection with Trachoma. As prevention option to Trachoma, World Health Organization recommends Facial cleanliness (F), Environmental Improvement (E), Antibiotics (A) and Surgery (S), which abbreviated as “SAFE”. Though research findings show that Trachoma found in communities with poor hygiene and unimproved environmental condition of a community, there is a research gap talking about the root cause for poor hygiene and unimproved environment related to Trachoma occurrence. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess Trachoma preventive practice among mothers and factors associated in the study area. Method and Materials: Community based cross-sectional study design with interview questions was used from Dec 06-26/2017. The study was done on 845 mothers sampled using two stages stratified sampling technique followed by systematic random sampling from 10 Kebeles. To identify association between independent and dependent variables, multiple logistic regressions was applied using SPSS version 20 data analysis software. AOR with 95% CI at a p-of 0.05 was used to ascertain the association between dependent and independent variables. Results: Based on the study result, households with overall good Trachoma preventive practice were found to be 412 (51.5%). Residence (AOR= 1.8; p-0.01), household wealth (AOR= 1.8; p-0.01), mother trachoma preventive knowledge (AOR= 1.6; p-0.02) water getting frequency (AOR, = 0.6; p-0.01) and time taken to water point (AOR= 0.3; p-0.01) were factors significantly and independently associated to good preventive practice at p-0.05 in the study District. Conclusion: The overall Trachoma preventive practice of the study district was 51.5%. Improving HH wealth status, mother’s capacity building, special attention to urban sanitation and improving water supply status are recommended factors to improve the overall level of Trachoma preventive practice of study population to protect children of age under 9 years.