Prevalence of active trachoma and associated factors among children 1–9 years old at Arsi Negele Town, West Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Trachoma is a public health issue in more than 50 nations worldwide, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where hundreds of millions of people are considered blind. Ethiopia is projected to have 30% of the global active trachoma burden. The frequency of Trachoma Folliculitis in children aged 1 to 9 years old is 30% in the Oromia Region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of active trachoma and associated variables among children aged 1 to 9 years old in Arsi Negele Town, West Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southern Ethiopia, December 24–26, 2019. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Arsi Negele town community on December 24–26, 2019. A total of 178 study volunteers were recruited using a single population proportion formula and assigned to families in the town’s three kebeles in proportion. A simple random selection procedure was used to choose study participants from the identified households. Madda Walabu University provided ethical approval, and different government structures provided letters of permission. Pre-tested structured questionnaires and binocular loupes X 2.5 were used to collect data from either mothers or fathers of eligible children for eye examination; torches with bottles of alcohol were used to gather data from either mothers or fathers of eligible children for eye examination. For analysis, data was entered into (IBM, SPSS) version 22. To assess factors associated with active trachoma, bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used. The crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to investigate the degree of association between the independent variables and active trachoma. Multivariate logistic regression was used to find connections between dependent and independent variables with a p≤ 0.05 confidence levels and a 95% confidence interval. RESULT: The prevalence of active trachoma was determined to be 21.91% TF among 178 children aged 1 to 9 years. Flies on children’s faces (AOR = 3.427; 95 percent CI: 1.432–8.171), unclean children’s faces (AOR = 3.99; 95 percent CI: 1.427–11.158), face washing habits (AOR = 3.064; 95 percent CI: 1.273–7.373), and not using soap while face washing (AOR = 4.564; 95 percent CI 1.561–13.342) were found to be statistically significant associated factors with the prevalence of active trachoma. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of active trachoma was found to be relatively high. Face washing practices and the lack of soap use while washing faces were found as associated factors requiring optimal interventions to prevent trachoma infection among children aged 1–9 years in Arsi Negele town.