Background: Approximately 1.9 million people worldwide are blind or visually impaired due to trachoma, and trachoma remains endemic in 44 countries. Amhara in Ethiopia has the highest burden of trachoma in the world. A key indicator of whether active trachoma requires public health intervention is the incidence of trachomatous inflammation-follicular in children aged 1 to 9 years. However, limited study has been conducted on the determinants in rural communities. This study therefore aimed to fill this gap by identifying determinants in the Gozamn district of northwestern Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based case-control study was carried out between March 15 and April 30, 2021. Five or more follicles on the epitaxial conjunctivae that are larger than 0.5 mm were considered a case. Controls were free of any sign of trachoma. A semi-structured questionnaire and an observational checklist were used to gather the data, and STATA version 14 was used for the analysis. Using a 95% confidence interval, both bivariable and multivariable conditional logistic regression was performed. Results: A total of 726 mothers/caregivers participated in this study, with a participation rate of 98.4%. Children from poor families (mAOR = 4.68; CI: 2.80-6.21), households where the water source is far from home (>30 minutes) (mAOR = 4.91; KI: 1.37-12.56), mean daily water consumption (<20 l/c/d) (mAOR = 4.42; CI:1.71-11.39), face washing frequency less than once a day (mAOR = 10.64; CI: 2.58-18.84), cloth washing frequency once a month or less (mAOR = 9.18; CI: 2.20-18.62), and mothers or caregivers with poor knowledge of active trachoma (mAOR = 3.88; CI: 1.47-10.22) were determinants of trachomatous inflammation-follicular. Conclusions: We conclude that infrequent faces and clothes washing; unavailability of water, children in poor families, and poor knowledge of mothers/caregivers were risk factors. Health education initiatives about active trachoma, its prevention, and control methods focusing on personal hygiene are so required.
ObjectiveMore than half of the 700 million people worldwide who lack access to a safe water supply live in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia. Globally, approximately 2 billion people use drinking water sources that are contaminated with fecal matter. However, little is known about the relationship between fecal coliforms and determinants in drinking water. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential for contamination of drinking water and its associated factors in households with children under 5 years of age in Dessie Zuria district in northeastern Ethiopia.MethodsThe water laboratory was conducted based on the American Public Health Association guidelines for water and wastewater assessment using a membrane filtration technique. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to identify factors associated with the potential for contamination of drinking water in 412 selected households. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with the presence or absence of fecal coliforms in drinking water, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and a value of p ≤ 0.05. The overall goodness of the model was tested using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and the model was fit.ResultsA total of 241 (58.5%) households relied on unimproved water supply sources. In addition, approximately two-thirds 272 (66.0%) of the household water samples were positive for fecal coliform bacteria. Water storage duration ≥3 days (AOR = 4.632; 95% CI: 1.529–14.034), dipping method of water withdrawal from a water storage tank (AOR = 4.377; 95% CI: 1.382–7.171), uncovered water storage tank at control (AOR = 5.700; 95% CI: 2.017–31.189), lack of home-based water treatment (AOR = 4.822; 95% CI: 1.730–13.442), and unsafe household liquid waste disposal methods (AOR = 3.066; 95% CI: 1.706–8.735) were factors significantly associated with the presence of fecal contamination in drinking water.ConclusionFecal contamination of water was high. The duration of water storage, the method of water withdrawal from the storage container, covering of the water storage container, the presence of home-based water treatment, and the method of liquid waste disposal were factors for fecal contamination in drinking water. Therefore, health professionals should continuously educate the public on proper water use and water quality assessment.
Lake Tana is one of the biosphere reserves in Ethiopia registered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Water hyacinth is expanding in the lake owing to increased nutrient load from the watershed. As efforts from the government alone could not bring the anticipated change, local peoples’ engagement and contribution are believed to sustainably and effectively manage the watershed and prevent the weed’s spreading. This study, therefore, aims to estimate households’ contribution (willingness to pay–WTP–and willingness to contribute labor–WTCL–) to prevent and control water hyacinth and hence improve lake ecosystem services through a hypothetical watershed management in Lake Tana. This study applied quantitative and qualitative methods. It was conducted among 560 randomly selected households of the Libo-kemkem district using a contingent valuation method from March to April/2021. Eleven key informant interviews were also conducted. Bivariable and multivariable interval regression models were used to identify the determinants of households’ potential contribution. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. As the weed is believed negatively impact the ecosystem services provided by the lake, 72% of the respondents showed willingness to contribute to the proposed management program. About 32 and 39% of the respondents were willing to pay in cash and to contribute labor, respectively, to prevent weed infestation. On the other hand, 28% of them were neither willing to contribute in cash nor in labor to the hypothetical market. The findings showed respondents’ mean annual WTP and WTCL were 632.8 Ethiopian birr and 30.1 man-days per household, respectively. The place of residence, educational status, farm plot area, household income, family size, and conference participation significantly influenced WTP and/or WTCL. In this hypothetical improvement scenario, an estimated annual WTP and WTCL of nearly 12 million Ethiopian birr and 700 man-days per year, respectively, are reported considering the total households in the study area. Therefore, collaborative efforts by different stakeholders are the next steps to realize the hypothetical contributions.
The integration of water quality characteristics with habplot‐based habitat quality assessment score (HabQA) has received little attention in ecological quality assessment studies. This study investigated the macroinvertebrate community structure in relation with lake habitat quality and physicochemical water quality variables in Lugo Lake (Ethiopia). Twelve sampling sites (eight agricultural and four recreational) were included. The variation among macroinvertebrates data was significantly explained by HabQA score and soluble reactive phosphorus. The study revealed the greater importance of habitat quality characteristics in comparison with the other conventional physicochemical characteristics on macroinvertebrate community structure. We strongly recommend the use of HabQA system while studying macroinvertebrate community structure for a deeper understanding of the environmental functioning of tropical lakes. The results suggested the need to apply integrated and sustainable protection and management of the lake catchment (including wetlands) to enhance the ecological integrity and hence biodiversity of lakes.
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