Background
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) remains a significant public health concern in East Africa, with an estimated 30,000 cases reported annually. Ethiopia is among the most affected countries in the region, with the southern part of the country bearing a substantial share of the disease burden. Despite the high endemicity of VL in these areas, evidence regarding the factors contributing to disease occurrence among at-risk populations remains limited.
Objectives
This study aims to identify the determinants of visceral leishmaniasis among patients admitted to selected public hospitals in Guji and Borena Zones, Southern Oromia, Ethiopia, in 2022. Design A facility-based unmatched case-control study was conducted from April 15 to June 15, 2022. Methods The study was conducted among randomly selected 335 (67 cases and 268 controls) patients in Nagele Borena and Yabelo General Hospitals of Guji and Borena Zones from April 15 to June 15/2022. A pretested and structured face-to-face interviewer administered questionnaire and chart review were used to collect the data. Data was entered into Epi Data version 4.6.0 and exported to SPSS version 25.0 for analysis. Bi-variable and multi variable binary logistic regression model were used to identify the determinants of VL. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% Confidence level and p-value of <0.05 were used to declare statistically significant associations.
Result
A total of 335 study participants comprising 67 cases and 268 controls were included, with an overall response rate of 100%. In this study, presence of a dog in the household (AOR=7.2; 95%CI:3.6-18.1), presence of acacia trees around the home (AOR = 8.3; 95% CI: 4.2–17.1), presence of domestic animals in the household (AOR = 6.8; 95% CI: 2.3–16.7), no formal education (AOR = 3.6; 95% CI: 1.1–12.2), and termite hill around the home (AOR = 3.2; 95% CI: 2.02–9.3) were significantly associated with VL.
Conclusion and recommendation
Our study identified several determinants of VL, that no formal education, presence of dog in the household, termite hill around the home, presence of domestic animals in the household and acacia trees around the home. Therefore, strengthening community awareness and promoting environmental risk-reduction strategies, including minimizing exposure to domestic animals, termite hills, and acacia trees in close proximity to households, may help reduce the risk of visceral leishmaniasis in the study area.
a2049-9361, 2049-937X