Spatial distribution and determinants of acute respiratory infection among under-five children in Ethiopia: Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey 2016

BACKGROUND: Childhood acute respiratory infection remains the commonest global cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children. In Ethiopia, it remains the highest burden of the health care system. The problem varies in space and time, and exploring its spatial distribution has supreme importance for monitoring and designing effective intervention programs. METHODS: A two stage stratified cluster sampling technique was utilized along with the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data. About 10,006 under-five children were included in this study. Bernoulli model was used to investigate the presence of purely spatial clusters of under-five acute respiratory infection using SaTScan.ArcGIS version 10.1 was used to visualize the distribution of pneumonia cases across the country. Mixed-effect logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants of acute respiratory infection. RESULT: In this study, acute respiratory infection among under-five children had spatial variations across the country (Moran’s I: 0.34, p < 0.001). Acute respiratory infection among under-five children in Tigray (p < 0.001) and Oromia (p < 0.001) National Regional States clustered spatially. History of diarrhoea (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 4.71, 95% CI: (3.89–5.71))), 45–59 months of age (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI: (0.45–0.89)), working mothers (AOR = 1.27, 95% CI: (1.06–1.52)), mothers’ secondary school education (AOR = 0.65; 95% CI: (0.43–0.99)), and stunting (AOR = 1.24, 95% CI: (1.00–1.54)) were predictors of under-five acute respiratory infection. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: In Ethiopia, acute respiratory infection had spatial variations across the country. Areas with excess acute respiratory infection need high priority in allocation of resources including: mobilizing resources, skilled human power, and improved access to health facilities.