Effect of community led total sanitation and hygiene (CLTSH) implementation program on latrine utilization among adult villagers of North Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Absence of latrine remains a common public health problem in most of the Sub-Saharan Africa countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the effect of community-led total sanitation and hygiene approach implementation and associated factors among villages of Laelai Maichew District, Tigray, and North Ethiopia. RESULTS: This study revealed that the rate of latrine use in the rural community of Laelai-Maichew district was about 46.8%. The majority, 71.1% of households in CLTSH implemented Villages and 93.5% of households in CLTSH non-implemented Villages did not have hand washing facility around their latrine. Community-led to total sanitation and hygiene non-implemented villages were 49% times less likely to utilize their latrine compared to those community-led total sanitation implemented villages [AOR = 0.51 95% CI (0.35, 0.75)]. Households owned latrines for two and above years were 1.5 more likely to utilize their latrine [AOR = 1.50 95% CI (1.21, 2.59)] than those of owning latrines for less than 2 years. In this study, latrine use rate was low. As a result, the local, national governmental and non-governmental organization should design programs to create behavioral changes on the community’s attitude towards latrine utilization. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4519-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.