Kadu Meribo*, Tadesse Kebede, Fetene Sisay and Adugna Abera
Introduction: The strategy of current efforts to halt the transmission of human onchocerciasis is community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI). To interrupt transmission, it is thought that a high level of adherence and dedication to CDTI is necessary. However, refusals and absenteeism are to be expected among the group of individuals who are eligible for treatment. These would undermine efforts to interrupt transmission in endemic areas. Consequently, this study is aimed at exploring potential factors associated with non-compliance with community-directed treatment with ivermectin for interruption of transmission of onchocerciasis in the Diediesa rural district of Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey dealt with the socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, and behavior of people towards non-compliance with CDTI, collected using a closed-ended, structured questionnaire. Detailed information on treatment seeking behavior, population movement, and similar information was gathered using focus
group discussions and in-depth interviews.
Result: Therapeutic coverage has shown that there were people who did not comply with CDTI or failed to take ivermectin treatment. Out of the total participants interviewed, 12.8% had never received ivermectin treatment since CDTI started in their locality. 15.3% had been absent from ivermectin treatment at least once in the last 5 years. In this study area, we observed that being male [P=0.009, OR=2.063, 95% CI, 1.196-3.557], having completed high school or college education [P=0.001, OR=0.247, 95% CI, 0.110-0.556], and being married [P=0.026, OR=0.256, 95% CI, 0.077-0.850] are significantly associated with non-compliance with CDTI. And a qualitative survey also revealed
that population movement was negatively affecting therapeutic coverage because of the internally displaced people’s movement between their place of origin and new settlement areas.
Conclusion: The main difficulties in a CDTI in attaining the targeted objective in a sizable number of implementation units were non-compliance which includes absenteeism and refusal. They were the primary causes of the CDTI’s inadequate therapeutic coverage. In addition to this, one factor contributing to the inadequate therapeutic coverage of CDTI is population movement within and around the transmission zone. As a result, transmission can continue after the time limit for interruption is supposed to end. Therefore, it is advised to employ current tools appropriately and build a suitable approach to address the aforementioned concerns.
Published Date: 2023-08-29; Received Date: 2023-08-01
