Abstract:
Background: Childhood pneumonia has been the commonest cause of suffering worldwide
among under-five children, with the developing nations carrying the highest mortality and
morbidity. Ethiopia is the fifth among 15 countries having the highest death rate of under-five
years clinical pneumonia in the world. However, evidences are limited regarding pneumonia and
associated factors among under-five children in southern Ethiopia including study area.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of pneumonia and associated factors among under-five
children in Boloso Bombe Woreda, Southern Ethiopia from February 1-15, 2018.
Methods and Materials: A community based cross-sectional study design was used to conduct
the study. A total of 458 households with under-five children were selected by multistage
sampling technique. Data were collected by face to face interview of mothers/caregivers using
structured questionnaire and direct measure of child’s height and weight. Data were entered on to
Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software
version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to
identify the independent predictors of pneumonia among under-five children. Level of statistical
significance was declared at p<0.05.
Results: The overall two weeks prevalence of pneumonia among under-five children was 17.6%
[95%CI:(14%-20.9%)]. Cooking in main house [AOR=2.16; 95%CI(1.17, 3.99)], carrying child
on back during cooking [AOR=6.20; 95%CI(3.25, 11.83)], keeping cattle in the main house
[AOR=2.47; 95%CI(1.40, 4.37)] and child’s history of acute upper respiratory tract infection
[AOR= 2.75; 95%CI(1.30, 5.81)] were found to be significantly associated with pneumonia
among under-five children.
Conclusion: Prevalence of pneumonia in the study area was high. It was more common in
households where cooking took place in the main house, children were carried on mothers’ back
during cooking, cattle were kept in main house and children had an acute upper respiratory
infection. Thus, health education at the community level is needed to reduce pneumonia among
under-five children
