INVESTIGATION OF BURDEN OF HOUSEHOLD VECTORS ON CHILD HEALTH IN RESOURCE-LIMITED AREAS OF SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA

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.