Abstract:
Background: Trachoma is the leading cause of preventable visual impairment globally. It
greatly affects children and remains the principal cause of preventable blindness. There are
no published studies about magnitude and associated factors of trachoma in the schools in
Dire Dawa.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the magnitude and associated factors of
trachoma among school children in Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia.
Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 15-30,
2019 among 823 children aged 4-9 years residing in Dire Dawa. Multistage stratified
sampling and probability proportional to size techniques was used to select the study
participants. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and observational check list.
Clinical examination of eye for trachoma grading was performed based on World Health
Organization simplified grading system. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Sciences version 25. Both descriptive and analytic statistics were employed. Statistical
significance was considered at p-value of less than 0.05 at 95% Confidence interval.
Result: The overall prevalence of trachoma was 4.3% in which 74.3% had Trachomatous
inflammation - Follicular and 25.7% had Trachomatous inflammation- Intense. Family size
(AOR =2.24; 95 % CI = 1.53-8.53), presence of more other 3 school children in the
household (AOR = 3.30; 95 % CI =1.37-5.94), monthly family income (AOR=2.02; 95%
CI=1.46-6.25), presence of nasal discharge (AOR=1.54; 95% CI=1.01-3.37), latrine
availability (AOR=4.66; 95% CI=2.77-9.04), presence of flies around the latrine (AOR=6.16;
95% CI=3.67-13.52) and latrine to main house distance (AOR=6.11; 95% CI=2.41-11.46)
were factors with trachoma.
Conclusion: The overall prevalence of trachoma among school children aged 4-9 years old
was lower compared to the previous studies conducted in Ethiopia and it is below WHO
threshold (10%). Factors like family size, number of school children living in the household,
latrine inaccessibility, and unavailability of latrine, monthly family income presence of nasal
discharge and presence of flies around the latrine were aggravated the occurrence of
trachoma. Therefore; establishment of latrine at appropriate distance from the main house and
keeping clean around the latrine are recommended to alleviate the problem.
