COMMUNITY SATISFACTION FROM HEALTH EXTENSION PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN JIGJIGA RURAL KEBELES, SOMALI REGION, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The Ethiopian government's health extension program is a creative strategy to guarantee health equity by generating demand for basic healthcare services by delivering relevant health information to households in both rural and urban areas of the country. However, the degree of community satisfaction with the program has not yet been thoroughly examined in Ethiopia's Somali Region. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree of community satisfaction with HEP and the elements that are related to it. Objectives: To assess community satisfaction and associated factors towards health extension program in Rural Kebeles of Jigjiga city, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia from March 20 to Semtember 10, 2024. Methods: A community - based cross-sectional study was conducted among 506 households which were seleted Systematic random sampling. Each chosen kebeles received a proportionate share of the samples. A systematic questionnaire was used to gather data. After being imported into EpiData version 3.1, the data was exported to Stata version 17 for analysis and cleaning. To ascertain the proportions and associations of the variables, descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were used. and variables with a P-value less than 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval were deemed statistically significant. Results: A total of 463 heads of household were responded correctly - with the response rate of 92%. The mean score of the respondents was 14.81 with SD of (±3.12). Over all 23.7% of the households were satisfied and community satisfaction with Health extension program was mostly explianed by Eductional status (ß=2.99 95%CI: 2.22, 3.76),selected model households(ß=1.18 95%CI: 0.57, 1.79),knowledge about maternal and child health (ß=2.88 95%CI:2.23, 3.54) and Perceived accessibility to health service (ß =2.67 95%CIs:-0.06, 5.58) were independent predictors of community satisfaction towards HEP. Conclusions: community satisfaction towards health extension program implementation was found to be low. Community satisfaction is highly influenced by a number of factors, including Educational status,selected model households,knowledge about maternal and child health and perceived accessibility.