RABIES PREVENTION AND CONTROL PRACTICES AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG DOG OWNERS IN CHIRO TOWN WEST HARARGE ZONE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

Background: Rabies is perhaps the most deadly of all human diseases, as once clinical symptoms appear it is almost 100 percent fatal and there is no specific treatment that cures the virus after clinical onset. The WHO estimates that approximately 50,000 people die of rabies annually and about 40 percent of the victims are children. In most studies even though people were familiar with rabies, the practices towards rabies prevention and control measures remain a challenge. In West Hararge zone particularly in Chiro town evidence on prevention and control of rabies among dog owners is limited. Objectives: To assess rabies prevention and control practice and associated factors among dog owners from July 30/ 2021 to August 30/2021 in Chiro Town in West Hararge Zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia. Methodology: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 372 sampled dog owning households.The samples were selected from total number of 6500 dog owner households in the town using simple random sampling method. Data were collected using pretested structured questioner, entered into epidata, and exported to SPSS version 24 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with the outcome variable. Results: Overall 52.8% participants were found to be havig poor rabies prevention and control practices. Morethan half 52.1% of respondents have had good knowledge about rabies prevention and control practices and 49.1% have good attitude. Only 28.2% of respondents were responded to history of dog bites. The odds of good practices among households having one dog were 2.292 times more compared to households having 2 or more of dogs (AOR= 2.292, 95% CI: 1.333-4.792). Respondents travelling <30 minute to get vet clinics were 9.43 times more odds of having good practice than counterparts(AOR= 9.43, 95% CI: 5.529-25.945). Conclusions and recommendations: The level of good rabies prevention and control practices is low. Outreach services to dog owning households living in morethan 30 minutes walk distance and promoting households to control the number of dogs in the households should be applied for good rabies prevention and control practices.