Prevalence of pneumonia and its determinant factors among under-five children in Gamo Zone, southern Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia, which is a form of acute lower respiratory tractinfection, affects the lung parenchyma and destructs alveolar air space.Pneumonia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in under-fivechildren. It was estimated that pneumonia kills 900,000 under-five childreneach year worldwide. Approximately 172 deaths per 1,000 live births occur insub-Saharan African countries, with pneumonia being the major cause. Thisstudy aimed to assess the prevalence and determinant factors of pneumoniainunder-five children in southern Ethiopia.Methodology: An institutional cross-sectional study was employed. A total of239 child–caregiver pairs were included. Data were collected by trainednurses using a semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data werechecked for completeness, coded and entered into EPI data version 4.6, andexported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Results were reported as the mean,frequency, and percentile. Logistic regression was employed to assessstatistically significant predictors of pneumonia. Variables with a p-value<0.05 were considered statistically significant factors of pneumonia.Result: The prevalence of pneumonia in the study area was 30%. Among thefactors assessed, place of food cooking—inside the living room [adjustedodd ratio (AOR) = 5.79, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.47–13.58],nonexclusive breastfeeding (AOR = 3.26, 95% CI: 1.42–7.52), vitamin Asupplementation status (AOR = 5.62, 95% CI: 2.65–11.94), and vaccinationstatus (AOR = 3.59, 95% CI: 1.49–8.66) were significantly associated with theoccurrence of pneumonia in under-five children.Conclusion: This study showed that the prevalence of pneumonia wasrelatively higher in Arba Minch town than other parts of the country. Place offood cooking, nonexclusive breastfeeding, vitamin A supplementation status,and vaccination status of children were significant factors of pneumoniaamong under-five children. Enhancing caregivers’/mothers’ awareness ofpredicted factors was needed to reduce the incidence of childhoodpneumonia and to enhance children’s quality of health.