Abstract:
Background: household vectors/insects are the transmitters of disease-causing organisms that
carry pathogens from one host to another that affect child health and well-being. This study
aimed to investigate the burden of household vectors on child health in resource-limited areas of
southwestern Ethiopia
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted. A total of 846
household data were collected by using a pretested questionnaire with the application of a simple
random sampling technique. Epidata3.4 was used to enter the data and then exported to Stata 14
software for analysis. Descriptive statistics and binary and multivariable logistic regression were
used to identify factors of household vectors for the occurrence of identified child health
problems. A variance inflation factor of less than 10 was used to diagnose the Multicollinearity
of independent variables before both regression analyses. The chi-square test was used to
determine the association of household vectors with the identified child's health.
Results: The prevalence of the effects of household vectors in this study area was found to be
35.5%. Households who have no formal education were 36% (AOR 0.64, 95% CI 0.41,0.99)
less likely affected than households with more than a secondary education level. The effect of
household vectors among housewives was 21% (AOR 2.21, 95% CI 1.23,3.70) more than those
employed as government workers (p-value <0.005) among students, private workers and farmers
with more odds of risks. Besides the households' vectors households with limited access to
information about the burdens of identified household insects were 88% (AOR 0.12, 95% CI
0.08, 0.20) less likely affected than those households who have information access. Caregivers
with limited awareness of household vectors were 98.6% (AOR 0.014; 95% CI 0.01–0.04) less
likely affected than their counterparts. Similarly, the effects of households among the children
whose families consumed less than 20 letters of water per individual were 1.45 times more at
risk than their counterparts (AOR 1.45, 95% CI 1.02, 2.07).
Conclusion: There is a high burden of household vectors on child health. Households who have
informal education, housewives, limited access to information, low awareness, and less access to
safe water were the factors associated with household vectors related to childhood diseases.
Therefore, strengthening community and stakeholder participation in the implementation of
integrated vector management strategies to improve child health is imperative.
