Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Trachoma in Rural Communities of Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia: Implications for Prevention and Control.

Background: Trachoma is a neglected tropical disease which is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world. Trachoma is one of the major health problems in Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. However, knowledge, attitudes, and practices about trachoma are not yet studied in depth. The objective of the study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices on trachoma and its associated factors among rural communities in two districts of Tigay Region, Northern Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two districts of Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia, from May 7-24, 2017. Data were collected on paper based, were entered into Epi Info version 3.5.1, and then exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors associated with knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

Results: In this study, a total of 194 respondents were included. The overall level of good knowledge, attitudes, and practices on trachoma was 51%, 49.5%, and 35.6%, respectively. Having ever received health education was significantly associated with good knowledge (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.10; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.91-8.79) and attitudes (AOR = 2.10; 95% CI: 1.02-4.25). Moreover, good knowledge was associated with good practices on trachoma prevention and control (AOR = 2.86; 95% CI: 1.46-5.62).

Conclusion: Our study implies that areas with high burden of trachoma need to improve communities' knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards trachoma prevention and control in order to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem. Therefore, health education focused on SAFE strategy should be provided to increase knowledge and changing attitudes that contribute for good practices towards trachoma prevention and control among communities.