Abstract:
Background: Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) form one of the most important groups of
infectious agents in causing a serious global health problem as a result of low standard of
living, poor socioeconomic status, poor personal hygiene and poor environmental sanitation.
Both individual and community perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of STHs infections and
practices on their prevention and treatment are important factors. The provision of training
by health extension workers (HEWs) scale up the community health.The households (HHs)
use these lessons to make changes to their home and health care system and then become a
model after graduating for meeting the requirements.
Objective: To assess Soil-transmitted helminths infections among Health extension program
(HEP) model and non-model households of selected kebeles of Seka Chekorsa woreda, Jimma
zone, southwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A community based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from April to
June 2018, by recruiting a total of 612 household members from 120 randomly selected HHs.
Stool samples from each study participant and 153 soil samples were collected and examined
microscopically using Kato Katz and Zinc Sulphate floatation techniques, respectively.
Moreover, questionnaire was used to assess the risk factors associated with STHs infections
and Knwledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) of the HHs. The data were entered; analysed
using SPSS software version 20 and descriptive statistics was used to give a clear picture of
study variables. Logistic regression was performed to determine the risk factors associated
with STH infections. Statistical significance was considered at P<0.05 during the analysis.
Result: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites was 34.3 %( n=210) while the
prevalence of STHs was 32.2 %( n=197). Individuals living in the non-model HHs were six
times more likely to be infected with at least one STH as compared to those living in the
model HHs(OR=5.96, 95%CI; 3.74-9.52, P<0.001). The dominant STH was T.trichiura
(21.6%) followed by A.lumbricoides (6.4%) and hookworms (2.1%).Prevalence was highest
among the age group >15 years 106(31.6%). No significant difference interms of gender and
age distribution (P>0.05) was observed. KAPs of HHs towards STHs had significant
difference between model and non-model HHs (X2 =40.35, P<0.001). The overall soil
contamination rate was 12.4%. The dominant parasite observed was S.stercoralis followed by
hookworm species with significant difference between model and non-model villages (X2
=11.77, p=0.038).
Conclusion and Recommendation: STHs infections were health problem of non-model HHs
than model one. HH status, KAP of HHs about STHs, hygiene related habit and
environmental sanitations, and training on Health Service Extension Packages (HSEPs) was
more likely contributed to this epidemiological factor. Therefore, there is a need to
community based deworming, implementation of HSEPs, awareness creation and health
education focusing on the different level of practices of study participants on preventive and
control measures.
