Abstract:
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Proper disposal of human excreta remains a challenge of under developed
countries like Ethiopia. Poor utilization of latrine or open defecation is a serious health risk practice, which increased risk of communicable disease transmission. In Ethiopia, since country introduced the heath extension program, later community led total sanitation, and hygiene that focused to end open defecation, so that number of households accessed latrine facility were showed
good progress. However, the level of latrine utilization and associated factors is not well known,
which the same as the study area was. Therefore, this study was employed to find evidences to
show the current situation of latrine utilization and factor affecting in the study area.
Objective: To asses latrine utilization and associated factors among rural households in open
defecation and non- open defecation kebeles in East Dembiya district, north West Ethiopia
METHODS: A community-based comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted
among 857 households in East Dembiya district, from June1/ 2022 to Jully10/ 2022
857 households in 2 kebeles declared open defecation free and 5 kebeles non- open defecation
free for comparison. Study units were selected using a multi-stage sampling technique. The data
was cleaned and coded before being entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and analyzed with STATA
version 14.0. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with latrine utilization. Adjusted odds ratio with 95%CI was calculated to identify the predictors of latrine utilization.
RESULT: The prevalence of latrine utilization in the study area was 232 (54%)
(95%CI=49.2%-58.7%)) and 164 (38.4%) 95%CI= 33.8%-43%).of participants in the declared
open defecation free and non-open defecation free kebeles respectively. In open defecation free
kebeles: respondents who had age between 18 - 21 and 30- 33 years old(AOR =2.47; 95%
CI:1.24, 4.93)(AOR=0.44,(0.19- 1.01) respectively, the latrine privacy (AOR = 0.22; 95% CI:
0.08, 0.63), hand washing facility around their latrine(AOR = 1.83; 95% CI: 1.07, 3.14), households who have positive attitude (AOR = 1.90; 95% CI: 4.01, 1.20-3.02), visited frequently
within 2 weeks by HEW (AOR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.22, 3.74), and households who addressed
promotions of latrine (AOR = 4.80; 95% CI: 0.96, 24.01), and the distance between latrine and
households home above 10 meter and (AOR=2.22,95%CI:1.20-4.12) were significantly associ
